Why Setting Deadlines in Time Management is Essential?

How often do you fail in meeting deadlines? Trust me, the problem is more common than you think, and it’s not just because we’re all too lazy to deliver the project before the due date. We all have a million things to do simultaneously, and if we miss a deadline once in a time, it won’t hurt that much.

However, if it becomes a routine… the consequences may face not only us but also the work of each team member, as well as each angry client we service.

So, why do deadlines matter?

What do deadlines communicate to us?

How to assign deadlines to make sure they’re actually achievable?

How to see your projects through to the end, stick to the plan perfectly and deliver exceptional results on time? Let’s find out how to deal with multiple projects, achieve goals and meet deadlines effortlessly!

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What’s the fuss about deadlines?

In times of doubting about completing tasks on time, I bet some of you often ask yourself, “why are deadlines important?”

It’s been like that for years, whether about homework assignments at school or keeping an eye on the due date of each task at work detailed schedule.

And it’s entirely normal; it’s just the anger that rises inside you when you finally realize you had plenty of time before the due date but procrastinated till the very end.

You probably feel a sudden productivity boost then, which makes you complete your assignments on time, but at what cost? You’re running on empty, mad at yourself that you almost missed the deadline. Again.

And that’s precisely why deadlines matter, why they exist!

To keep us prepared and avoid situations of testing our own boundaries. But it’s up to us if we’ll stick to the routine of completing a project in time without achieving the highest stress levels or leave everything at the last moment.

Is setting deadlines important only for me?

Deadlines help us organize the schedule and work for both short and long-term projects.

Once we know what’s the completion date of a project or a specific task, we can establish the right resources needed to complete a task on time.

A new due date indicates how long it can take for an individual to clear the deadline. However, it also helps achieve team goals – no matter if a small or larger project, they’re a set of multiple milestones that can only be achieved when each member does their best.

Besides, tracking deadlines is a solid base to discuss progress and the team’s performance.

Creating a project deadline list that’ll be transparent for the entire team (e.g. in a project management software with all tasks assigned to the people responsible) can work wonders for teams that struggle with delivering their work within due dates.

What are the right strategies for meeting deadlines and deadline management?

👉  Break down work into pieces

A project consists of smaller tasks, and each task is a goal to achieve itself. So why not break down your work into chunks, and each of them is a step that brings you closer to success?

Smaller tasks can be distinguished according to the previously agreed project milestones. Then, based on the work overload of your team members, distribute the work among them. Ensure the entire team stays on the same page about each other’s assignments and due dates – good communication is the key to successful project management.

Organize regular meetings to check the progress and track completion status. However, remember not to overdo it with the number of them – too many meetings could have been an email, so don’t sabotage your own and your team’s productivity :D.

👉  Set task dependencies

Once you break work into specific tasks, you’ll see that one depends on the other. They all belong to a larger project, so it’s natural that they affect each other. Finding out in which order they should be completed will help you set realistic completion dates.

Besides, once the dependencies are established, it’s easier to identify tasks with a tight deadline and prioritize them over these with buffer time. Use a project management tool to create the task dependency tree, mark each when completed, and enjoy the smooth flow of your project.

👉  Respect your time 

You do not have forever to finish your deadline at work, go to the gym and work out, spend time with family and friends, or manage your business. This limitation in the time that you have in a day makes setting deadlines in time management necessary. If you do not keep track of time, chances are, you will be missing a lot of essential things, which leads simply to the piling up of things to do. You and your team will be lenient, believing that you still have time when in fact, your time is already running short.

Such behavior causes unnecessary stress, making you feel you’re running out of control, so you can’t accomplish what you want. There’s no smart strategy to deal with such anxiety unless you get your team together, discuss the possible solutions to solve the problem, and then stick to the plan.

👉  Ensure your team focus time

Meeting deadlines is tough when someone constantly interferes with your work, isn’t it? Even if you’re doing your best to avoid distractions when others ask you for help with their tasks or to chat about nothing, all your efforts become wasted, and before you notice, you’re running short of time again.

A shortage of quality focus time is probably the cause of why your entire team has problems with delivering work on time. No matter if you’re office workers or a group of people who are working remotely.

How to avoid it?

• Reduce meetings to the necessary minimum – whether it’s good to know if everything with the project is going fine, too many meetings knock you off your rhythm. Besides, in times of online team collaboration tools, we can resolve a lot of issues just by using work channels of tools like TimeCamp Planner or Slack,

• Add a buffer time – before you start working on the next assignment, make sure you have scheduled some extra time to your initial time estimate to ensure all the steps of the previous one are done after meeting the deadline. Once you know everything is fine, you can start the following tasks without the risk of some unexpected problems caused by unfinished issues from the previous task,

• Set reminders – working on tight deadlines means we often forget about the quality focus time we deserve. Plan it ahead in your shared work calendar to let your coworkers know you’re busy within these hours and set notifications to remind you about the event – all to save time and complete the assignments faster.

👉  Choose the right software

First, it should be packed richly with many advanced features, helpful when running your own business or freelancing. TimeCamp provides you an automatic time tracking with reporting to reveal the real team’s performance. It’s also equipped with budgeting and invoicing features to bill the customers accurately. It’s especially crucial in the case of project completion, wherein employees will be paid by the hour.

Using such a tool is essential to be able to know how long each employee has worked and, in the end, determine the corresponding payment. Some projects are better to be paid by the hour rather than by a fixed price.

It’s especially beneficial when you’re a freelancer because, based on the estimated costs calculated by budgeting features and detailed reports, you’re able to bill your clients accurately. Manage time smarter to meet your deadlines faster!

Want to know where your time goes? Sign up for a free TimeCamp account! 💚

👉  Avoid Procrastination 

Setting deadlines will help people who are used to procrastinating. By tracking time, it is possible to know how much time is left before the deadline of a specific project. This will help you to be in tune with the schedule that has been initially planned. If you do not track time, you might end up panicking that you only have a short time left before the project needs to be completed.

Tracking time for each task helps you to stay perfectly organized with your daily routine at work because you won’t have a single minute even to think about procrastinating (e.g., browsing social media every ten minutes or several dozen a day)! Such a small move, but gives us some extra time needed, especially when we have to meet tight deadlines.

👉  Improve Discipline 

Setting deadlines in time management can also be essential when it comes to discipline, a can of worms of work ethic. In times like these, when we’re locked down at our houses, both working and living in the same place, it’s hard to stray entirely focused on our tasks. When you know how much time is left, you will be pressured to let go of distractions and, instead, focus on the things that you need to accomplish within a specified period.

If you do not track time, you may end up being lax and doing other things, believing you still have the luxury of a decent amount of hours left. Set realistic priorities as well – not the good-looking ones to boast about to coworkers, but hard to achieve.

👉  Determine Improvements 

Another importance of setting deadlines is that it will help to determine the necessary improvements. You can learn from the time that has been tracked from past projects. Were the past deadlines reasonable?

Based on the data that your time tracking software shows, it can be seen that the schedule was a bit tight; you can allocate more time for the project before setting a new deadline so that it can be accomplished based on the envisioned schedule.

Make sure you do it your own way – even the best tips may not work if you’re not sure they suit you and your work style. Instead of being irritated continuously that meeting deadlines are ruined because of bad management habits, just set your own and stick to them.

👉  Know When To Hire

How often have you heard your employees complain about being overwhelmed with the workload?

How often they explained the delays by having fewer hours dedicated to the project than they really needed to complete projects in time?

Hours tracking allows you to find out that it wasn’t exaggerated, and the truth is your team is suffering from the lack of workforce.

Instead of wasting time reorganizing the daily work routine, take a quick look at the individual-generated time reports to get a clear overview of how your team is performing. If needed, try to hire new members – this way, you’ll show employees that you care about their potential, ensuring conditions for constant progress.

Conclusion

Productivity – this is a common goal for many people. Whether you are at work or just at home, you will most probably be interested in being productive, which means you must be efficient. Many things can be done, and one of the most important is time management. To accomplish the latter, setting deadlines in time management is vital.

Hope these simple tips will help you meet deadlines effortlessly in the future, even while managing multiple projects at once!

Do you use other ways to set deadlines and complete projects and tasks faster? Please share them in the comments section!

Ola Rybacka Content Specialist at TimeCamp, foodie and doxie lover, full-time otaku. よろしくお願いします！

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