Thursday, March 24, 2011

Deadline or to not deadline - Exploring reality

Deadlines are a bad idea when

1. Teams or individuals working on creating something new
2. Initial stages of unstructured or complex work

Deadlines work best when

1. Individual pieces of work are almost complete and integration is required to give product complete shape

2. Repetitive & well understood tasks that require that extra push to reach the finish line

Summary - When the path is clear deadlines help to reach the finish line fast, on the other hand, if one is discovering the path, deadlines are best avoided.

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