I Can't Afford to Hesitate
In my profession (graphic design) there is a major driving force behind all of the projects I work on… deadlines. Love them or hate them they have a way of defining the scope of a project.
Today I finally finished the Newsletter that I do every 2 months for the company I work for. First off, I actually enjoy publication design and our newsletter is continuing to fall into that category. In my time we have produced pieces as small as a 2 color 6 page fold out to a 4 color 20 page magazine (which I just completed today.) Through out all of these shapes and sizes two things have been constant… deadlines, and the total disregard for them. I don’t know why this occurs but every time we do a newsletter it takes 2 weeks past deadline to get it out to print. This has become a phenomenon that I can’t seem to understand let alone solve.
So for those of you out there who have had times in which you can’t seem to get everyone to respect your deadlines, how can I change this situation for the better? I know it is possible… heck Rolling Stone does it every month and they are a bunch of party animals. Please share your wisdom with me, I’m all ears.
(Heading lyrics – Deadline by Tree) Editors note: These were the best lyrics I could find, even though I have never heard the song… thanks Google.
Today I finally finished the Newsletter that I do every 2 months for the company I work for. First off, I actually enjoy publication design and our newsletter is continuing to fall into that category. In my time we have produced pieces as small as a 2 color 6 page fold out to a 4 color 20 page magazine (which I just completed today.) Through out all of these shapes and sizes two things have been constant… deadlines, and the total disregard for them. I don’t know why this occurs but every time we do a newsletter it takes 2 weeks past deadline to get it out to print. This has become a phenomenon that I can’t seem to understand let alone solve.
So for those of you out there who have had times in which you can’t seem to get everyone to respect your deadlines, how can I change this situation for the better? I know it is possible… heck Rolling Stone does it every month and they are a bunch of party animals. Please share your wisdom with me, I’m all ears.
(Heading lyrics – Deadline by Tree) Editors note: These were the best lyrics I could find, even though I have never heard the song… thanks Google.
posted by Andy at
2:55 PM
5 Comments:
wow.. this is a toughie, especially since every company treats internal prjects differently. At my former job, inside projects were *supposed* to get treated like a paying project, but everyone moved them to the bottom of their priorities ranking. My way of circumventing this apathy was to do the following: I always worked in an extra 2 days into my project timeline for last minute adjustments; always budgeted 20% over the money figures to account for my management time; and tried to tell the deligatees(sp?) only what they needed to get the project done (usually leaving out the fact that the project was not for a paying client). After finessing the method on a coupla projects, I think I got it to work.
By
Anonymous, at 9:16 PM
yeah, deadlines, at my work, they are MUCH more flexible than we think they are. for example, just this week, i was ordered to make alterations to the design of a grade school workbook that was supposed to have been printed 2 months ago. our process goes: first pages, corrections, alterations, 2nd alts, 3rd alts, etc. we usually never have to go past 2nd alts, but these workbooks have been quite a different story. and, the odd part, is that it's not a big deal (at least not to my company).
and yeah, dan, our in-house stuff always gets pushed to the backburner as well. with the exception of our trade show, things like our company newsletter, Christmas stuff, etc, always get the shaft as far as time/quality/deadlines. ah well, i don't have to develop the deadlines, i just have to make them.
By
Unknown, at 1:09 PM
as far as making people respect the deadlines better, i believe that the more excited about the project people are, the better, harder, and faster people will work for it. i kmow you andy, you're very uproarious (in a good way), just like me. and people love the feelings of involvement and actually mattering. now, i,ve learned at my work that people show excitement in different ways, so don't get too discouraged by the quiet ones. usually, they are more methodical and task oriented, while i, for example, am more like a loose cannon when it comes to designing. heh, sometimes i tell people, "you want the mo? you got it, so get ready and watch out, it's time to bdominate!"
ps: if i ever own a company, i'd call it Welcome to Funville, or maybe, Time to Dominate. yeah, that'd be awesome.
By
Unknown, at 7:47 PM
deadlines shmedlines... blah.
By
Stuen, at 1:10 PM
I'm reasonably sure that "shmedlines" is not a real word
By
josh, at 1:42 PM
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