How to meet a work deadline and not kill yourself in the process

Posted: October 12th, 2008 | Author: steve | Filed under: business | No Comments »

Your boss has handed you an outrageous deadline for a piece of work – barring a miracle there’s no way on earth it is going to get done in that time. Yet there’s no way the deadline can move – someone higher up is expecting your boss to deliver and the pressure is now on you to make it so. What do you do?

Don’t panic

Stay calm, flapping around and getting stressed is not going to get anything done any quicker. If anything, it’ll cloud your thought process and slow progress.

Give progress reports

From the time you were hit with the tight-deadline bombshell right up to delivery day, give regular email reports to your boss and any other stakeholders about your progress. Tell them what is going well and where the problems are. Make sure your boss knows about any hindrances you have – for example, if you are waiting for other people – so they can do something about it.

Have a plan

If you can split your work up then decide which parts you can do first and which you can leave to last. If there’s stuff you can’t do right now then leave it and get on with something else. Try to get the harder or trickier stuff out of the way first, it’ll make the last days before the deadline less stressful if the work is easier.

Don’t overdo it

Don’t start busting 23 hours days to try and get it done. Tired people aren’t productive people. Try to stick to your work plan and get it done in a sensible working day.

Ignore everything else

Even though you’ve got this high-priority work to do with a tight deadline it’s likely other people will still be trying to give you other work to do. Tell them your priority and refer them to your boss – you ain’t got time for other bits of work here and there – let your boss deal with it.

Work from home

I think working from home is more productive than the office – try to get a peaceful and productive day’s work done away from the office.

Be honest

Don’t pretend it’s all going rosy if it’s not – don’t sit on the fact that part of the work is not going to be done and then spring it on your boss on deadline day. Be honest in your progress reports – it’ll give everyone more time to prepare for non or partial delivery on deadline day.

Good luck! Everyone gets an unrealistic work deadline now and again. Don’t stress it. Stay calm, plan it and focus on it. Work smart but don’t work long. Get it done, bask in the glory of a completed project delivered on time and pray you don’t get another one any time soon.

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