Why do we need deadlines?

Because deadlines work. Period.

My tendency is to bite off more than I can chew. Add a pinch of procrastination, mix in some laziness and serve. Bad recipe.

Often, my mouth is ahead of my brain…

“No, you can’t have it yesterday!… er, (sigh) well… just a sec, lemme see what I can do”…

There isn’t anything like the feeling of dread staring down a looming deadline, especially when I’m not even close to completion.

On the other hand, I hate to disappoint my clients because happy clients turn into long term clients. And every marketer knows that the cost to acquire a new client is many times greater than the cost to keep a current client happy.

So, miraculously, I rarely miss deadlines I’ve agreed to.

So there it is. But what to do? How do you avoid client disappointment and keep all of your hair?

Two things…

First: Planning. The second: An understanding of Parkinson’s Law.

The first requires a pen, paper, and a calendar.

Second, who’s Parkinson anyhow?

Parkinson is the fellow who postulated the theory …“the demand upon a resource always expands to match the supply of that resource.”

(loosely paraphrased for our purposes)… “any activity will expand to fill the time allotted for it”.

That’s close enough.

Working backwards from the target completion date, count the available days and calculate the working hours. Subtract any time you need to complete current projects.

Is this amount of time enough to cover the extra assignment? If not, can you postpone a current job or squeeze in extra time in the early morning or evening?

Find every extra hour you can. Total ’em up and that’s all you have to work with. Will it be enough?

You’d be surprised.

I don’t have empirical data to support this claim other than my own anecdotal evidence. I do have a theory though.

As long as you understand the scope of the work involved, I think having a deadline puts you into a resourceful and productive frame of mind. It forces you to move and act regardless of inspiration. And, because I’m results-oriented, the added impetus of meeting the client’s expectation is a huge motivator.

If the completion date is vague, then the drive needed to finish the project will likely be unfocused and diffused.

Having a firm date and time eliminates all of that stuff.

Have you had a similar experience? Tell me about it.