Time

Set impossible to meet deadlines

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Parkinson’s Law

Because having few time helps us to use it and organize it more efficiently.

You don’t believe me? Ok. Answer the following question honestly: During which phase of a project do you achieve most of work? If your answer is “on the early stage” you are an extraordinary person (or a shameless liar). My short experience shows me most of us are more productive in the last 20% of a project…because of the fear of the deadline.

I remember when I was a student I always waited for the last moment to seriously start a project with always the same excuse ,“I have plenty of time…”. Result: I spent some nights working like a slave to finished assignments. It’s not a very good way to manage time but I learned a lot.

Why set very hard to meet deadlines

Focus on the necessary: we tend to prioritize better when we know we have few time to complete a task. As a software engineer, I always start to work on the killer feature of my application and leave secondary ones for later. Running out of time forces ourselves to focus on the 20% that matters.

Give yourself 8 hours to achieve a task and it’s gonna take you 8 hours. Give yourself 4 hours and you will complete the same task in 4 hours. (Tips for manager: realize this experience with your team members: ask two of them to complete the same task, one with a one day deadline and the other with a half-day deadline. I bet results are gonna be somehow similar). In fact, we have a unfortunate tendency to fill the void.

How I set deadlines

This is how I set deadlines. It’s not universal rule. I just noticed it works well for me. I call it “the 50% rule” (Yes I love percentages and numbers).

I try to think objectively about how much time I need to achieve the task. I find an appropriate amount of time. I eventually set the deadline at 50% of this time. That’s it.

And you how do you manage deadlines?

photo credit: TLMELO

© 2009 Unbalanced man.