When sending out projects to an internal or external (sub-contracted) team, my expectations are very simple.  I put together a brief, provide details of the project and describe what I’d like to have done.  And in many cases, I receive comments to the effect that ‘I’ve never seen so much detail before’.  And when it comes to the timeline, In many cases I ask only one question: “How much time do you need to complete this project?”.  Now, in some circumstances, if it is a really tight deadline, I will set a timeline myself.  However, in many cases, I leave it up to the developer, designer or producer.  I’ll even go as far as saying, “Be sure to give yourself enough time to finish the project”.  Naturally, one would think that this creates a very easy scenario for the design person or team that is executing that portion of the project - to simply adhere to their own timeline.  This is pretty straight-forward...right?  Apparently not.

Isn’t this what college is for?  Outside of the drinking, partying and utter waste of time that college affords many people - one of the skills we have to learn is to deliver something on time.  If we don’t get that paper in on time, we get penalized for it.  Life also provides us other examples..ie bills, payments, relationships, everything tends to get worse when we don’t do what we say we are going to do.  It’s as simple as that.

Procrastination happens.  Many of us wait too long to get things moving...which doesn’t help us as we come close to the final hour.  But let’s forget the potential damage this can have on the client-agency relationship for a moment, the lack of trust that it can develop..etc.  Instead, let’s look at the selfish side of missing deadlines.  We all know that projects tend to grow in scope in the first place, but what happens when an agency starts to miss deadlines? Well, for starters, it cuts into our other projects - and this can have a snowballing effect - reducing morale, hampering creativity, increasing stress...and the list goes on.  There is nothing worse than starting a brand new project with a lot of potential - and having to grind through a project that’s still on the table - that shouldn’t be.

So let this be heard!  Though in many cases the project will be delayed by the client, let us not forget how important it is for us to live up to our end of the bargain.  It won’t only hurt our relationship with the client, it will stymie our growth as a professional service provider and can stifle creativity.