Deadlines have gotten quite a negative perception over the years in the engineering industry, but if they're done in the right way, they can be incredibly useful. In this article, we'll go through what to do and what not to do when it comes to deadlines, and also why deadlines can be an extremely effective tool for focus.
Why do engineers dislike deadlines?
So, a lot of engineers hate deadlines. Why is that? Well, if you have a negative experience with something in the past, you will automatically have negative thoughts when that particular thing appears the next time. And that's the reason why a lot of engineers hate deadlines. They had a negative experience with it in the past.
I had a fair share of such experiences both as engineer and also as a middle manager. These are the three examples that I've experienced the most.
The deadline has been set without a specific reason about why we need it by that date. I remember one time when I was a middle manager, I just received an email noting that this particular thing needed to be delivered by that particular time without any explanation of why. I needed to rally up my teams and find a way to accomplish that.
The deadline has been set without even communicating. I accidentally found out that there was a deadline set on a particular project that I was owning, but that was not communicated to me. You can imagine my surprise when that deadline was totally unrealistic by the efforts that we predicted.
The deadline changed without expecting scope change. Sounds all too familiar right? Did this happen to you as well? Expecting that the solution can just magically be delivered a lot sooner with the same amount of people or within the same scope. It's just unrealistic.
But what if the deadlines are done in the right way? Let's get to that next.
The surprising benefits of good deadlines
When deadlines are done in the right way, they're actually very helpful. There are a lot of different pros when it comes to deadlines. These are my top three reasons why deadlines are very helpful.
Deadlines help us not to try to perfect our solutions. The Parkinson's law states that the work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. And if the work expands to the time available, we will be perfecting our solution until we reach the end of the time. And perfectionism is one of the biggest productivity killers in our industry. And it can cause quite a delay to the project. But not only that, it can also lead us to burnout. I found myself trying to perfect my solutions many different times. And when I set deadlines for myself, I focus a lot more on progress and forget about being perfect.
We focus a lot more on simplifying the solutions. Simplifying is the way to go in our industry. One of the best things I like to see is a simple solution to a complex problem. That really makes my day. Simple means it's easy to understand, easy to change, and easy to maintain. that help us to move fast and make adjustments if needed. In the current fast-paced world where a lot of businesses are changing things very frequently, keeping things simple will provide immense value.
We reduce unnecessary complexity. With the deadline, we set one of the constraints which removes the variability and helps us to make decisions easier. It makes it easier to make decisions because we removed one of the variables that is time.
A crucial mindset shift: fixed time, variable scope
Talking about removing one of the variables. This is also my preference as well. I rather have the scope to be variable and time to be fixed. It shifts your mindset not to perfect but rather to simplify and deliver the value to the customers faster. Delivering the value to the customers faster means that customer satisfaction will rise as well which will help us to get more customers and that means that the business will also grow faster.
What's really important to understand is that we as engineers are here to provide as much business value as possible. If there's a business reason to deliver by a specific time, the best thing we can do is to look to simplify and reduce the scope which will help us to reduce unnecessary complexity and only if that's not possible. The second thing we should be looking at is to negotiate the timeline. Always keep this in mind.
How to handle deadlines as a software developer?
So what to do when it comes to deadlines?
Embrace them. Try to understand what is the business reason behind it and how is achieving that deadline going to help the business.
Focus on adjusting the scope, not the time. This will automatically put your mind into simplifying and avoiding unnecessary complexity.
Focus on good communication. Make sure to continuously provide updates regarding the project and ensure that everyone is on the same page. I advise overcommunication for the start especially in remote environments and after some time you can adjust based on what you see is working and what not.
If you want to learn more about how to handle deadlines as a software developer, I highly recommend you watch this video by Agile Coach which explains how to handle forced/unrealistic deadlines as a Scrum Master.
How to set effective deadlines as a leader?
And now let's talk about if you are the one who is defining the deadlines. These are my three suggestions.
Be transparent as much as possible. Share all the info about the "why" and make sure that you're available for any questions. Providing the context and a good reason is what is going to make the deadline effective and is going to resonate with the people responsible.
Let the team set their own timeline. The most effective deadlines are the ones that we set for ourselves. Knowing this, just asking the specific person or a team to provide a timeline for completing a project is a great way to put some time constraints on the project, especially for a team. That's also the reason why I believe sprint goals are so effective. They really help with the focus on building the right things and ensure alignment between teams and also the business.
Write it down and track progress. Make sure to write it down somewhere, hold people accountable, and check the progress continuously. If you think that setting a timeline is going to magically make things happen, that's not the case. It's really important to write down the agreements in a place that is easy for everyone to see and also set up frequent check-ins. That is going to help a lot to avoid any misunderstandings.
Need help building a better roadmap?
The principles in this article-clear communication, realistic scope, and team empowerment—are at the core of effective software delivery. If your team is struggling to meet deadlines or build a clear path forward, I can help.
As a certified Scrum Master and Fractional CTO, I specialize in working with engineering teams to build effective roadmaps and create processes that help them deliver high-quality software consistently. Let's work together to turn your delivery challenges into a competitive advantage.
Learn more about how I can help as Fractional CTO.
Final thoughts
I'm curious to hear about your thoughts regarding deadlines in the engineering industry. Make sure to send me a message on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn and I'll try to help you out!
To learn more, you can subscribe to my newsletter. It's where I share similar tips and advice on how to be a great engineering leader. There are more than 1,000 people area already reading it and I publish two new articles every month.
Thank you for reading and I'll see you on the next one.