NFIB

How to Handle Multiple Deadlines, Part I
04/ 11/ 2002

As your business continues to expand, you may have times when you're facing more than one deadline. This happened to me a few years ago when I was writing for a rapidly growing telecommunications firm. I was working on a priority project, then was handed a second project with even higher priority. Just as I began work on the second project, I was assigned another, with even higher priority. Then, I was given another. At that point I had four projects, each with approaching deadlines and was instructed to do the best I could to finish them all.

Did I accomplish everything within the allotted time frame? Almost. At least everyone was satisfied with my performance, and no deadlines were severely compromised. In today's and next week's Workshops, Jeff Moses discusses how to handle multiple-deadline projects.

The first thing you should do is let all interested parties know about the potentially that their project(s) may not be completed on time. The earlier you inform people about this possibility, the better off everyone will be. When someone becomes angry at being put off, assure them that you will do everything possible to finish on schedule, but the one thing you will not do is sacrifice on quality. You may find that someone responds to this by saying, "I'd rather have you finish on time than do it to the best of your ability." When someone says that, you have to make your own judgement as how to proceed. But remember, a week after you finish, the person probably won't remember that you were instructed to cut quality to make a deadline. They'll see only the finished product, and the imperfections will glare out at them. This very likely will reflect poorly on you, no matter what was said.

If you have your own company, the best thing to do is to turn down or put off work that you can't finish on time. If you're working for an employer, you can't really "turn down" the work. You can and should, however, let your employer know exactly what your schedule is. This will enable your employer to set your priorities.

When trying to meet multiple deadlines set schedules for each project, determining how many days or weeks you have for each. When the schedule you've set seems impossible to meet, try to delegate some of the work or some aspects of the projects. To do this effectively, you'll need to break the projects into stages.

When delegating, assign specific tasks and time frames for completion. Put these tasks and time frames in writing with the person or people you're using. This will help them focus, and make sure that miscommunications don't cause you to miss your own deadlines.

I know what many of you are thinking: it's usually quicker for me to just go ahead and do the project myself rather than taking time to explain things to someone else. This mindset can lead to difficulties. You simply have to prepare for crunch times well before the crunch time arrives. Develop lines of communication beforehand, and delegate work so that you can get used to working with your people.

In next week's Workshop, we'll discuss additional points to help you with multiple deadlines.

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