Discussions
Explorez les dernières discussions liées à ce domaine.
EXCLUSIVE – Cloud Imperium Games Undergoes Major Shake-Up to Hit Deadlines : Games
Main Post: EXCLUSIVE – Cloud Imperium Games Undergoes Major Shake-Up to Hit Deadlines : Games
EXCLUSIVE – Cloud Imperium Games Undergoes Major Shake-Up to Hit Deadlines : pcgaming
Main Post: EXCLUSIVE – Cloud Imperium Games Undergoes Major Shake-Up to Hit Deadlines : pcgaming
[Need Advice] I've become desensitized to deadlines
Main Post:
I don't know exactly why but deadline don't seem to have any effect on me. I'm always aware of what they are and how fast their approaching, but I no longer feel any sense of stress, worry, or urgency about my assignments. Such as today; we were given an assignment due at midnight and though I had no classes today I put it off all day. I didn't forget about it, I was constantly aware it was something I needed to do, and yet I waited until almost literally the 11th hour to finish it. But I'm not even anxious or stressed about it being late. I'm just 'eh, whatever'.
I think this is because I've recognized nothing bad has ever happened from me delaying an assignment. I have had plenty of homework assignments I eventually didn't bother to do as their deadline approached and just said "screw it". Yet despite that I've somehow managed to make it into graduate school at the U-Mich for energy systems engineering.
Was I ever valedictorian, no, but I've made dean's list several times. I could very well work on things as soon as I got them; I have excess free time on my hands, yet I continuously put things off to the last minute, or don't even do them at all, because my personal history has shown nothing bad will happen. I'm not sure if this is sad or what.
Anyone else have experience with this?
Top Comment:
Oh my God, same. Definitely have experience with this. I wasn’t always like this. I was a perfectionist high-achiever, but now I’m just like you explained it. I never knew how to put it into words. I have my theories as to why.
On Toxicity of Deadlines
Main Post: On Toxicity of Deadlines
Top Comment:
In fact, not only that it does not work, it will in many cases force developers to produce low quality code and make bad decisions that will harm your project.
truer words never spoken and honestly, they almost never listen when you ask which features they will sacrifice..then the toxicity gets worse
Deadlines
Main Post: Deadlines
Top Comment:
Can you do it in one minute but with the features of the ten minutes version?
I've been coping better with deadlines recently. Here are the tactics I use to do so
Main Post: I've been coping better with deadlines recently. Here are the tactics I use to do so
Top Comment: 967k members in the productivity community. Tips and tricks for being more productive!
Rant: impossible deadlines becoming the new norm.
Main Post:
Is it just me, or are project schedules becoming unrealistic? I've been working at a large firm in NYC for 6 months now and the schedules are a fantasy in terms of getting things done. I've worked on three projects now where we started planning the addendum before the CD's go out. I fucking hate addendums. Sometimes they are really needed, but all they do is confuse things. Subcontractors end up accidentally building off of old drawings and then the change orders start rolling in.
It's not just the design schedules either. The construction schedules are getting to be so tight as well. I can't tell you how many times we have had to change specified materials/equipment because the lead times on them are too long (when I say long I mean perfectly reasonable for the given product. Its just the schedule it too tight). This results in often lower quality materials being installed and can have a negative impact on your reputation.
I just wonder if there is anything that can be done. I can tell the stress is taking its toll on me and the talented people I work with. We joke about it, but there's an undercurrent of "this sucks".
What makes it worse, I love what I do, I just hate the way it has to be done.
Top Comment:
One thing I learned from working for a contractor is that sometimes things are done sub-optimally in order to keep everyone working. Everyone knows the deadlines are ridiculous but the world can't wait for perfectly resolved CDs because there are finite labour pools with finite commitments and if you can't get your subcontractor on board early there's no way to guarantee that they'll be able to commit their resources on promises. It sucks, but there's a reason that new construction is a leading indicator of economic growth - all those inefficiencies keep the gears in motion.
[Advice] The power of deadlines and why you should use them more often.
Main Post:
We all struggle with procrastination to some extent. When we don't have a deadline for something, we can end up putting it off for god knows how long. It's hard to focus on it, and there's no sense of urgency, so we can get to it later. But with a deadline, things are quite different.
Even with a deadline, we can struggle to concentrate on a task for a long time. It can seem overwhelming. Distractions seem more appealing. But when the deadline approaches, suddenly all our excuses vanish. Our minds somehow become sharper. It’s not so difficult to focus anymore. We become invigorated.
This seemed to happen a lot with most people (especially students) I've come across. We all love to procrastinate, but when push comes to shove, we become possessed by a power that urges us into working for long consecutive hours. We end up working for longer and more effectively, without interruption, all thanks to the impending doom of a deadline.
Deadlines give us a sense of urgency, higher stakes, and accountability. These are key ingredients to invigorate just about anyone.
We can, and really should, utilise the power of deadlines more often. Any task, big or small, can genuinely benefit with a deadline. Deadlines improve our performance and help us to be more efficient.
Self-enforced and external deadlines
You don’t need to just take my word for it either. This study by Dan Ariely – the bestselling author of Predictably Irrational – also shows that deadlines really do lead to an increase in performance. Any deadline, self-enforced, or external, improve performance. However, external deadlines (e.g. a deadline someone else imposes on you) are more effective than self-enforced ones (which are still effective!). They have a higher perceived cost and higher chance of enforcement, since other people are involved. We can let ourselves down and live with it, but the fear of social rejection makes us more inclined to fulfill external deadlines. So if there is something big that you know you really need to do, try and get a sibling or friend to hold you accountable in some way, e.g. put your pride, or even money, on the line.
But, even though external deadlines are more effective, it’s difficult to implement them for everyday tasks that we tend to put off. It’d be too time consuming to get someone to watch over us for all those things. So self-enforced deadlines are a lot more convenient and viable here. They still improve performance, and are a lot easier to implement than external deadlines.
How to utilise the power of deadlines
All you have to do when you’re put off from doing a task, and/or want to improve performance, is simply set a timer to a relevant time (depending on the task). You can do this via countless timer apps on your smartphones, or countless timer websites, like e.ggtimer.com. You could even bookmark a timer website, or make it your browser homepage, so you won’t forget about enforcing deadlines.
Deadlines improve self-control
There’s also another important and beneficial reason for self-enforced deadlines. A social psychology study found that setting deadlines made people more productive in the long-run. By setting and meeting deadlines over the course of 2 months, participants completed their planned tasks, but also exercised more, improved their diets, and reduced their intake of cigarettes and alcohol. Without any intention, setting deadlines for one task, ended up making participants have stronger self-control, which made them improve their lives in a number of other areas.
Pretty awesome.
Deadlines get us moving
At the very least, setting a deadline will urge you to START. That’s usually one of the big hurdles we have to face to get our work done. So just setting a comfortable deadline/timer, like for 15, or even 5 minutes, will at least push you into making some progress.
Keep setting deadlines, keep starting, and keep accumulating that progress, until it becomes habitual enough for you to do even more.
Summary
All in all, there’s no reason NOT to set some deadlines or timers.
There’s a lot of benefits to be gained. Your performance becomes more efficient, effective, and focused. They help you save time. They increase your self-control. And they’re really simple to implement.
Remember this: If procrastination consumes you, a deadline will be your lifeline.
Top Comment:
Can setting an artificial deadline really be distinguished from planning? Or put another way is it possible to plan or set artificial deadlines which hold the same Motivational pull of genuine ones?
Could meticulous obsessive planning and goal setting bordering on pathological give you the edge?
Has deadlines in software ever worked?
Main Post:
Since what is actually "done" software is a very floating concept, is having deadlines for projects of any use?
We are going to switch to this apparently after a more sprint based approach the last years, and I voiced my opinion how pointless it is since if the team says no about what they can deliver, any date set in the future will just negatively impact the customer experience and expectation
To me it just feels like a project manager feel good strategy, so they can have their "roadmaps" and whatever stuff to present on their powerpoints
There is a reason most successful companies have an iterative approach, and we all know(?) that 90% of the software gets written in the 10% of the time. But of course this seems to be forgotten for each new product cycle
Do you have any succesful examples?
Top Comment:
Deadlines are useful only when coordinating critical work with other teams. Say a big feature is being developed and the marketing team needs to prepare materials to launch a campaign for it. In which case deadlines are useful because its an agreed upon date in which both teams need to get their shit together.
Arbitrary deadlines for the sake of deadlines are stupid and are indicative of bad management.
Tricks and tips for dealing with the stress of deadlines?
Main Post:
Hello! My question is probably pretty stupid, but I looked up the keywords "stress" and "deadline" together and separately in this subreddit, and didn't find what I was looking for. Here goes:
I'm a graduate student about to start my PhD program this coming fall. I just finished a masters by the skin of my teeth this past semester, and it was mostly due to my fault in dealing with deadlines and stress. Usually I try my best to plan for extra time to meet deadlines, but I sometimes miscalculate how much time I need to to complete things, and then get stressed out when I need to rush for a deadline. In this case it was my masters thesis... I am pretty good with short-term assignments, but that was my first time managing a project over a year long and needless to say the writing took a LOT more time than I expected it to. I get that I need to start planning smarter, and boy have I learned my lesson. But I realized that I panic easily when things don't go as planned, and when faced with the possibility of not meeting a deadline, instead of rushing into work, I get paralyzed by the fear that I might not finish, and so will go through around 3 hours of high anxiety and panic without getting to the work that needs to be done!
I don't know what is wrong with me... I think the issue here is that I deal very poorly with stress. This was the first time when I've just broken down not understanding what to do. I've also upset my masters advisor for not meeting the schedule that we agreed upon.... I still can't breath well just thinking about it.
**How do you guys deal with the anxiety? Do you have tips or tricks for me to calm down and get to work properly? **
I want to fix this issue and improve before I start my PhD program, which is going to be much longer and I will be tied down with much more responsibilities (TA, more courses, etc.)... I hope this wasn't a total waste of your time. Thanks for reading.
Top Comment:
I am a chronic migraineur, so I am always at the mercy of my brain, which sometimes goes AWOL for varying periods of time. One advantage of this condition for me is that I always work well ahead of schedule. Anxiety is not your friend; planning and following through will help you get rid of the anxiety.
Post your short and long-term goals in a prominent place and consciously review them (What progress have I made? Am I on target? How can I make up the time I lost yesterday?) at least once a day. I like the inside of my medicine cabinet--plus I have a small white board just to the left of it--interior design for academics often has these small enhancements for the good of humanity. Of course, if you live with other people, you may have to create a different system.
In my experience, it is necessary to have certain reading and writing rituals. When I read, I need controlled noise in the background (Pandora? White noise? Classical music? Whatever keeps my brain focused on the reading but does not really interrupt my reading) and no interruptions. I turn off all electronic devices that will interrupt me, and I take a break every hour. When I was studying for my orals, I scheduled about four days a week of reading time from 9-4. I would wake up, go to the gym at 6 a.m. (to get out of the house and socialize and get enough exercise for my body to be able to sit for hours), go home, eat breakfast, and read for an hour. Then I would take a break for about five minutes and repeat the process. I would take notes on all my reading (with old technology--note cards and pens--or spiral notebooks for some information), summarizing the main points. This was in the age of cassette tapes, and I also recorded tapes of reading summaries to play in the car if I went to the grocery store or my eyes were too tired to read.
When I write, I follow essentially the same plan. Controlling my external environment and keeping it consistent allows me the most productivity. No interruptions. Self-imposed deadlines. Strict schedule. I was lucky enough to get a tenure track job before I finished my dissertation, and as soon as I finished a chapter, I would send it off to my committee. The FedEx packages kept piling up at their offices, and eventually, they all got together and decided that I was ready to defend. If I had waited for their feedback, I am sure that it would have taken at least another year. I beat my deadlines, and they recognized my drive. By seeing the whole project, it was easier for them to give me feedback on small bits here and there.
So make it easy for your advisor--but you already have figured that out.
Teaching is a whole different story, and it takes years to get it together. If you are very lucky, you will be in a system that has the curriculum clearly laid out. If there are a lot of you without teaching experience, it is a good idea to meet once a week for a "brown bag lunch." Figure out what, exactly, you will be doing for the next week. Make sure that you keep the class on schedule. You will be doing yourself and your students a favor by having major assignments and tests due on Mondays--not Fridays. It took me years to figure that out. If you don't want to spend the weekend grading, have the grading finished by Thursday and return the papers/tests on Friday. Or, if the class meets only two days a week, have the assignments due on the first day and hand them back at the end of the class on the second day, stopping class 10-15 minutes early so you can do quick consultations with students or schedule office appointments for individuals. In short, compartmentalize your teaching activities.
When I plan a course, the calendar appears to be set in stone, but I know that there is flexibility built in if I need it (because, migraines).
It sounds like you have a month or two before your studies start. You should start some new rituals now. I know that a lot of people rely on noise-cancelling headphones and can't tear themselves away from their phones, but the reaity is that getting a doctorate is a deep commitment to change in your life. You may go for a few years without seeing family and friends if you do not plan carefully. You are likely entering a field of study that you are passionate about, and you should start setting long and short-term goals today. Where do you want to be in five years? What book do you want to read this week? As time goes on, you will adjust your definition of "reading" and "writing," and it is important to pay attention to how you are processing information. The advantage of taking notes on paper comes to the forefront here. I am a visual thinker, so this may not work for you, but I kept careful notes on my reading in a notebook, but I summarized each book or article on a 4x6 note card, and I consciously highlighted "areas of interest" on each. So the bibliographical information was at the top of the note.
This is what each card looked like:
"Subject Area"
"Summary"
"Importance to the Field/Research Possibilities"
"Area of Special Interest"
Feel free to ask more questions. It might be worth your time to see a counselor about your anxiety for a few sessions before you return to classes. Or take some meditation classes. Meditation can be done anytime, anyplace, and it will keep you calm and smug when others are going berserk.