All the Time But No Time For a Deadline

My world is all upside down and downside up – or at least it is when time management is concerned in this new economy.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Being an ex-journalist, I’m used to juggling several deadlines simultaneously. I’ve learned the best way to get just about anything done is to put a deadline on its completion. Without doing that basic task, things don’t get done, because there isn’t the need.

Although I’m no longer in the timely world of news gathering, I still tack deadlines on all my projects. I give those who I need to get things from deadlines, so that I can meet the deadlines I’ve given myself to get those things done.

Though those I issue deadlines to never seem to care. A couple of weeks before the deadline, I politely remind them about it. A day or two before it comes due, again, another polite reminder. Then the deadline passes, and nadda, nothing, not even a frantic email apologizing for missing the deadline.

When I was a journalist, if you missed your deadline, the first time you’d get an earful from the editor, and on the next occurrence, you’d be done, gone, finite-oh, fired.

These days, when I chase people down who’ve missed a deadline, I’m the one who gets the earful from some executive that doesn’t meet deadlines either.
Must be the so-called new economy of today.

In our haste to cut costs, we’ve cut corners, and forgot the importance of getting things done.

I’ve been “working” on several projects continuously which normally would have been completed months ago, just because no one has met the deadlines I’ve set, and despite my attempts to get the information from ‘em, nothing gets done.
That’s why the word “working” is in quotes – until I get what I need to do my job, there really isn’t much of a job for me to do.

And it isn’t just my place of employment where time management has taken a back-seat in this new economy.

Today I got a cool flyer about improvements to my digital cable service. These new enhancements provide more interactive controls, allow me to preview six-channels at the same time, and even have a local news and weather feature.
The implementation deadline for these new enhancements? Mid-January – not a specific date, just that it’ll happen sometime next month.

Not to rock my cable provider’s services – they do an amazing job and provide the best customer service I’ve ever had from a cable company. When they enhance the system, they really do improve it – not like many other companies that just change one little thing and then jack up the price.

But back in the old economy where things got done, my cable provider would actually specify a date, and even a time, when they rolled out new features.
Guess they have moved to that new economy too, where time just doesn’t really matter. We’ll get things done when we get ‘em done.

That’s too bad, because open-ended deadlines don’t work. Read any management textbook, talk to any expert on running a business, even ask that geeky kid down the street that just took his MBA and they’ll all tell you the same thing.

Deadlines drive the wheels of the global economy.

Or at least they used to before those wheels fell off and left us twiddling our thumbs, wondering – just when will anything ever get done?

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Awkward Office Moments

Awkward moments happen to us all – that is just part of life. How we handle those situations is what really matters. But sometimes, you just have to go with the flow.

At the office the other day, and it isn’t all that uncommon to go over to someone’s desk to ask a question, or huddle around their computer to go through some work.

I was at one of the project manager’s desks, for a scheduled meeting. As a

Image by michael.heiss via Flickr

lways, I arrived slightly early. I’m always early for everything, which surprisingly drives me nuts, as most people are always late.

One of the advantages of always arriving early is the ability to scout out the location, to get comfy, and put all my things (laptop, notepads, pens, papers) within easy reach. I also sometimes stumble upon things I probably wasn’t meant to see . . .

Back to arriving early for my meeting with one of our project managers – got to the project manager’s desk only to find this particular project manager surfing one of those online job boards for jobs in the project management field.

Not exactly something you want to be caught with on your work computer. It is almost as bad as being caught surfing the net for porn on your work computer, or chatting on Facebook, or tweeting on Twitter.

Those are all pretty bad, but looking for work, while you are at work is a definite no-no – it says to those around you that you don’t want to be where you are, and you’re looking for something else.

The project manager was startled by my arrival, and quickly closed the web browser open at the online job board, but the damage was done. We both knew what was on that screen only seconds ago.

The question – what happens next?

The project manager could have made an excuse about looking for a colleague or a friend – but there would always be the element of doubt on both our parts. I would have some doubts about the story being spun by the project manager, and the project manager would have some doubts about whether or not I trusted the story I was told.

I could have brushed it off and said something about how it is always good to keep your options open, but again, that opens up a can of rotten eggs.

We did what most people do in awkward situations – stay deathly still and quiet for a few moments – which usually seem like hours – until something or

Image by laverrue via Flickr

someone breaks the ice, taking us out of that moment.

Someone walked past briskly with a bunch of papers, and one of those papers fell – I bent down, picked it up and handed it back to the rushed person. Then I turned to the project manager and we talked briefly about how our days were going.

That awkward moment was gone, and we were back to work mode – thanks to a completely uninvolved passerby.

Though situations like this are easy to avoid – no matter what you think of your job, never look for a new one at the office. You never know who may find out you don’t want to be there.

That poor project manager probably thinks I’m going to mention this to someone – another co-worker, a manager, or worse, the project manager’s manger. I won’t – this time. Perhaps being caught in the act (so-to-speak) will prevent this project manager from surfing for a job while on the job.

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