I’ve gotten into a lot of conversations with fellow project managers about deadlines.  Should they be steadfast like a concrete pole or flexible like a reed in the wind?

Personally, I’m torn.

On the one hand, deadlines ensure that things get done, which is the name of the game in project management.  Even though I consider myself a pretty efficient, dedicated worker, I find myself procrastinating even stuff I want to do without deadlines.  The first novel I meant to write took me 8 years to complete, mostly because I found other things to do with my time.  The second novel I wrote, I enforced strict deadlines and got it written in 1.5 years, a significant improvement.

On the flip side, deadlines sometimes create an urgency that is a detriment to the project.  One a software project I worked on, my manager wanted to ship it out the door by September, no matter what, to coincide with an industry conference.  When I pointed out we would lose significant features to ship on that date, he didn’t care.  So the product got shipped without those key features.  And guess what – those key features were the main point of differentiation between our product and the competition’s.  Guess who lost market share?

So I’m not a purist either way.  Deadlines are good to motivate when you need a kick in the pants, but can also create false tension.  They definitely should be used with an understanding of what’s important to you and your project.

-Deborah Fike

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