That retired project manager told me to stop overpromising deadlines...

I used to always say yes to tighter timelines, thinking it showed I was a go-getter. But after I promised a 2-week turnaround on a report for a client in Austin, the PM pulled me aside and said I was just setting myself up for burnout and bad work. He was right... I missed the deadline by 3 days and the quality was garbage. Has anyone else had a coworker give advice that actually saved your career?

3 comments

3 Comments

graceblack26d ago

Wait, you actually missed the deadline by only 3 days?

alexc9325d ago

Heard a story from my mate where he missed a deadline by 2 days and his boss was actually chill about it, wild right? @graceblack I swear some people are just lucky like that.

shane65517d ago

Wait @alexc93, are you saying your buddy's boss was cool with him being late? That's rare. In my world, missing a deadline by even a day can get you a reputation real fast. I used to be the same way as you, always saying yes to fast timelines. What finally worked for me was underpromising and overdelivering. Now I give myself an extra buffer on every timeline, and even if something goes wrong, I still usually hit my mark or come in early. It took one burned out project and a long night of redoing crap work for me to learn that lesson, just like you did.