Deadlines

COMPLETING TASKS by a certain time has already become a social obligation. It’s a part of the regime of punctuality in showing up for meetings, remembering anniversaries and birthdays, as well as finishing a job that has been contracted for.

Deadlines and how to cope with them have been instilled in us since youth. These time-bound submissions include homework. So, book reports, term papers, theses, and even “projects” which can range from a family portrait with wedding pictures and baptisms to a school play all rely on coordinating when each one is supposed to hand in his assigned task.

Even as juveniles, deadline dodgers are already adept with excuses — the dog ate my homework. When they grow up as adults, these excuse machines become corporate gamesmen and find ways of coping with deadlines.

The target is just another obstacle to avoid. Here are some methods deadlines are ignored by corporate players.

Move the goal posts. This time-tested technique dispenses with the deadline altogether. It’s not as simple as submitting on time. A week before the expected report, some dire development is reported to the boss. A crisis has just developed which trumps the submission of the silly report and snatches the assignee for more important things like putting out fires, including those started by him. Priorities are rearranged and submission of the “report” must give way to preventing a disaster. (Will they still remember it was due a month ago?)

More information is needed to update the report and make it more current. And it is not certain when the new inputs will become available. It may happen in the assignee’s next incarnation as a lizard.

An incomplete report is submitted with a sequel promised at a distant (and undisclosed) date. The incomplete report is considered sufficient compliance to keep the nagger off the phone and get relief from his persistent e-mail reminders.

Drag some other culprit in. Another department, usually HR, will be pinpointed as responsible for an important requirement — usually the hiring of several warm bodies. How can the deadline be met if the resources needed are not available?

Bring up a series of clarifications for discussion. With the exchange of e-mails and the scheduling of meetings to clarify the “deliverables” being required, the deadline becomes a distant blur. The degree of detail and the timelines needed (do we go back 10 or 12 years?) will make the original deadline seem unreasonable.

Note a change in procedure. The automation study which is never finished (we are now on parallel run) is a good excuse for postponing any deadline. An event which is in continuous and ever-changing mode, like full automation, is a good excuse, even if unconnected to the promised submission.

Corporate executives believe that not meeting deadlines for completion of a task or submission of reports is a sign of inefficiency and a quick way to get on the list of early retirements. The problem disappears when the boss doesn’t give hard deadlines at all. (Can you submit it next week?) Then, for the assignee, it is just a matter of attending meetings and going through the techniques of evasion — we are meeting with the client on his plans next Tuesday.

The deadline dodger though must accept that there are situations that have deadlines that are mercilessly immovable. These include flight schedules, tax reporting, and medical procedures. Delays are punished automatically.

Missed deadlines can come with penalties. This includes non-payment of loans or amortizations on their due dates. There is a bill sent, and no further reminders are made. Skipped payments (I forgot) are penalized and can leave a bad mark on one’s credit rating. Any further letters are from collection agencies or legal firms.

The rude awakening of missed deadlines is quite dramatic when it comes to utilities. The light just goes off — and there is the distant sound of a sigh.