Whenever I ask the question “Do you like surprises?” most people say
“yes” even before they blink.  Most of us hear the question as “Do
you like a positive surprise?” and the answer, of course, should be
“yes”

However, nobody likes a surprise that is shocking or brings sad news or
just plain negative. Tom Evslin has a great post with the title Managing Programming for CEOs Part 1 – Decompiling Programmer-Speak.
Tom talks about what programmers say and what the managers should
interpret from it.  I am of the firm belief that if we have to
successfully manage projects, we have to successfully manage
expectataions. Falling short of expectations is a negative surprise and
we know that everybody loves a surprise but nobody likes or wants a negative surprise.