What's the secret to
handling tight deadlines?
Mark Coster
Founder of Pixooma
Every year we undertake a survey, which is sent out to subscribers to our regular "The Pixel" emails, asking three questions about the frequency and content. The final question asks whether “you have any ideas for subjects we could cover this year?” One of our subscribers kindly asked the question - “What's the secret to handling tight deadlines?” We thought that this topic would make a good blog, so here goes…
As every business owner knows, at some point or other, you will be faced with a client who has a tight deadline. What you do next can make the difference between project success, or project failure. In my experience, it all starts at the enquiry stage. If you deal with everything properly then, you should find that what comes next is easier to manage.
…if time is of the essence, I would suggest that you don’t promise anything that isn’t 100% under your control…
Obviously there are multiple elements involved in taking on a project with a tight deadline, but they all link back in my case to our Pixooma Principles and the ability to manage you and your project from the word go. This encompasses the following five points:
1. Honesty
A deadline that has hardly any chance of being met should never be undertaken. Telling the customer what they want to hear isn’t helpful, particularly if further down the line you find that you have to let them down when the project is underway. Instead be upfront and tell them it can’t realistically be achieved (and why), letting them know:
If your unavailability is to do with your current workload, perhaps suggest one of your partners might be able to help out instead. Whatever the situation, if time is of the essence, I would suggest that you don’t promise anything that isn’t 100% under your control. Always under promise and over-deliver, rather than the other way round.
2. Planning
The more experience you have relating to time pressure, as well as client and project management, the more important it is to adopt a worst case scenario approach, making sure that you build in plenty of buffers along the way.
Tell the client what you need (and when) to meet it, but make sure you allow space in each part of the schedule for any issues (as they are more likely to cause problems the shorter the deadline). If you think you can get it done in 3 days, ensure there are 5 or more in the schedule etc.
3. Partnerships
If you feel that the work is worth taking on, then you might need to ask for help and get some support from your partners. Of course that assumes that briefing them won’t actually cause a time problem in itself.
4. Price
Make it clear to the client that this tight deadline will require some reorganisation of your workload, or working outside of core hours and/or the costs for partners to help. You might like to suggest a higher figure than you might normally charge - ‘a rush charge’ if you want to call it that, to cover the inconvenience. By doing so, you might find out just how flexible, or inflexible, this tight deadline suddenly becomes.
5. Progress
Once a project is underway, it’s essential that you maintain a good grip on the schedule, deprioritise other work that can wait, keep the client informed and ensure that you tell them if things are being delayed. And make sure you hold them to the deadlines they agreed to as well, after all if you have had to jump through hoops only for them to become strangely ‘unavailable’ when sign off is required, it is hardly a fair relationship.
Don't make it a habit
Whilst taking on an occasional project with a tight deadline is ok, I would not advocate for making it a regular thing. Like everything else about running a small business, you must look after yourself first. Being under pressure will not bring out the best in you, or give you the time and space to do your best work. Plus, it could leave you feeling anxious, stressed and overwhelmed and might take a toll on your productivity and your health when it needn’t.
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