• Question: Do you ever have to work to deadlines?

    Asked by hannahgrimes to Alex, Chris, Jed, Ken on 21 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Alexander Zacheshigriva

      Alexander Zacheshigriva answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      All the time. Some of them are tighter than others. On large projects the deadline may be few weeks or even months for any specific deliverables. On other occasions people may ask a question on Monday and expect and answer same day or by end of the day on Tuesday. The hardest bit is to fit in many little task. When you know it will only take you 2 or 3 hours to sort something out but if you have five bits like that to do it can make your life very busy for a few days.

    • Photo: Ken Gibbs

      Ken Gibbs answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Alex and I agree fully on this – we work to deadlines all the time.

      This can be a problem as an old Dutch friend of mine used to say, “I want it immediately – if not, before !” which indicates that some people may have unreasonable expectations about how quickly something can be done. The secret, I believe, is in planning ahead of time and showing everyone exactly what you are having to do on each day. Then they can see from you diary whether it is possible for you to add more activities – or not. You probably already use an electronic diary which you can share with others – so you can get into practice how to arrange your deadlines.

    • Photo: Jed Ramsay

      Jed Ramsay answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      For me, not always – some of deadlines can be a bit flexible or I can have projects that have no deadline and are up to me when I finish them. Like my research into how communities can protect themselves from flooding – I am setting my own deadlines for this.

      Most of my work does have deadlines though and usually they are pretty tight! it’s a good feeling when you meet your deadlines though.

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