Deadlines are Your Friend
Deadlines are common in most projects. It is the final date when all things must be completed. One thing I’ve learned in my career is that nothing motivates others like a deadline.
I can ask for feedback along my timeline, but it really comes through when a deadline is approaching. Suddenly, everyone will make time and more gets done in 1 week than in the month before. It can be frustrating.
I’ve made two tweaks to my work process that make deadlines my friend.
Complete all work on my timeline and ask for feedback.
You caught me, this is not a tweak. It is completing work as usual. I do the work, send emails for feedback, place all work in a common space and mark things off of my list as they get accomplished.
This gives me written support for any last minute changes and I have a record of everyone’s approval.
A couple of weeks before the completion date, I send an email to the entire project team.
This is an additional step and use it to set a meeting time with agenda items to work through together. A 30 to 45 minute working session with an upcoming deadline gets all final changes with everyone’s input. This step has provided me with so much peace of mind. Everyone discusses what they want and they reach a consensus. During this meeting, I’ve found most of my time is spent taking notes. With these extensive notes, I have a week to work on the changes and approval is quick because they have already done a preliminary approval.
This doesn’t work every time, but when it does it is glorious.
