Don’t ask for a project deadline
Project managers often ask for a project deadline. That might be a bad idea. Here are reasons to propose a project deadline rather than request one:
You need to analyze before agreeing to a deadline. Until your project team analyzes the work required to achieve business outcomes, you can’t be sure the deadline provided is feasible. Why ask for a deadline if you can’t acknowledge or refute? Instead, perform analysis on the requested scope and propose a defendable deadline. While that deadline may not be accepted without negotiation, you can talk knowledgeably about the specific risks of bringing in your proposed deadline.
Employ a proactive approach to project management. Setting arbitrary deadlines is not a recommended practice in business! Why do it with projects? Discussing possibilities, approaches and the capabilities and capacity of your team members is more constructive than building a case for why a project deadline may or may not be feasible. These discussions allow project managers to extend the capabilities and control organizational leaders have to manage the business.
Protect how your management team is perceived by team members. Impractical, arbitrary deadlines proposed by managers can erode the trust-based relationship between management and your team members. Managers who propose deadlines without understanding the complexity of the work can be perceived as out of touch or unappreciative of the work teams perform. Defining objectives and deadlines using a consultative approach between the team and management instills trust and helps ensure buy-in.
Support early discussion of options for the business. Ask the project team for their opinions about business objectives. that way, you won’t have to defend impractical deadlines. Instead, the team can propose scope and time trade-offs and alternative solutions to achieve those business outcomes.
For more about project scheduling and deadlines, check out my Project Management Foundations course.
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