Perhaps I was so task for a long time that I became a bit sarcastic, but I have a theory. I think 80 % (or more) of the final dates are fully arbitrary. Either it depends on “finger in the air”. The matter in particular is when the person who puts the deadline does not have a real idea of ​​what is the work or the time it will take.

Example: The deadline that crawls

In a previous role, a long A long time ago, I was working on what I thought it was a very important time. Once he was completed, he was the CEO he was using, and I was told that the deadline is not negotiable. The project manager was very clear: the work should be completed, and there could be no slipping. In the beginning, it looked Only about Achieveable, so I started doing my work.

As often, it turns out that work is more complicated than anyone has realized. I escalated, and I explained that things likely would take longer than anyone assumed, and I was told that there is no chance to extend the deadline. Since I was enjoying work and the deadline seems very important, I was happy to put it at some time. Near the end, some weekends also worked, and got it on the line in time. I was tired, but I felt satisfied while downloading the final version and sent an email to the great stakeholders.

However, this feeling soon faded when I immediately received a response: “Outside the office”, it shows that the stakeholder was on vacation for a week. The investigation is more, I find that yes, this person He is On vacation, this has been planned for a long time (they did not take an emergency vacation in a short notice).

Delivery will not be used for a week. There was already a week of the “stagnation” integrated into the plan, but no one told me. I could sleep more and I did not need to work on the weekend …

Satelli: I do not ask, “What are the effects of this …”

It will be easy to blame the project manager or stakeholders in this story, but I do not do that. In fact, you taught me something really important on the deadlines. When the deadline is narrow, it is important to ask questions to understand and restrict “difficult”. In the end here, we are testing restrictions. Questions include:

There are many other questions as well, and the intention here is understanding of what is real and unacceptable and not.

To be clear in estimates

On an equal footing, in addition to asking questions, it is important to pay the final appointments to analyze the analysis estimates, rather than accepting the arbitrary deadlines. Often there is uncertainty, and if it is necessary to have a detailed plan in the foreground, the table must be based on the evaluation of the practitioner for the extent of the work. If an arbitrary or flexible deadline is found, planning forward And explain what He is Possible in a specific time frame can be a useful approach. Whatever the approach that is followed, obtaining regular notes, updating estimates and specifying accordingly is important, as is the case in managing expectations.

In short: Understanding what is a real restriction and what is not very important. This can be achieved by asking provocative but important questions.

Predictions: 876