After talking about "Stop the Excuses!", its only natural to talk about deadlines. I recently read an interesting post by Alyssa Royse (founder and CEO of Just Cause) on three type of deadlines. As someone who is under constant pressure to meet the deadlines set by bosses and customers and who in turn putting pressure on the team to meet those, this article stuck a chord. Here is the summary:
There are three type of deadlines:
1. Real deadlines: These are created externally and usually by market conditions. For example, right now I'm busy preparing for the largest consumer electronics show - CES 2010, to be held in Las Vegas in early January. This is really real, if you will. You miss it, then there is a serious repurcussion on the business, perhaps near death. You just can't ignore such deadlines.
2. Fuzzy deadlines: Realish, but not life and death. These are typically set by customers and other stakeholders. Your customer would have liked you to deliver something by such and such a date, the plan is there and you hit the road. Somewhere along you realize that unless you throw in additional resources and/or burn midnight oil, you can't make it, though you can comfortably deliver a quality stuff by shifting it. Chances are that the customer might understand and agree to shift, if there is credibility. Try shifting such deadlines.
3. Arbitrary deadlines: These are things most of us trying to grapple with all the time. You decided in advance a particular date for something, but with no real reason. As you approach the deadline you suddenly notice that so many things are still pending and you are not feeling well, boss (who else) has put additional work, your high school friend suddenly is in the city, ... blah.. blah. Sounds familiar? Learn to ignore such deadlines.
Interesting isn't it? You can see the complete post here.
Thank you very much,
RamP!
ramp.ramp@gmail.com
There are three type of deadlines:
1. Real deadlines: These are created externally and usually by market conditions. For example, right now I'm busy preparing for the largest consumer electronics show - CES 2010, to be held in Las Vegas in early January. This is really real, if you will. You miss it, then there is a serious repurcussion on the business, perhaps near death. You just can't ignore such deadlines.
2. Fuzzy deadlines: Realish, but not life and death. These are typically set by customers and other stakeholders. Your customer would have liked you to deliver something by such and such a date, the plan is there and you hit the road. Somewhere along you realize that unless you throw in additional resources and/or burn midnight oil, you can't make it, though you can comfortably deliver a quality stuff by shifting it. Chances are that the customer might understand and agree to shift, if there is credibility. Try shifting such deadlines.
3. Arbitrary deadlines: These are things most of us trying to grapple with all the time. You decided in advance a particular date for something, but with no real reason. As you approach the deadline you suddenly notice that so many things are still pending and you are not feeling well, boss (who else) has put additional work, your high school friend suddenly is in the city, ... blah.. blah. Sounds familiar? Learn to ignore such deadlines.
Interesting isn't it? You can see the complete post here.
Thank you very much,
RamP!
ramp.ramp@gmail.com
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