July 29, 2016

The fish grows to the size of the bowl

Some people say that project deadlines motivate teams. In my experience, this is only true if the deadline is very close (weeks not months). 

If a project deadline that is set, say, three or more months in the future, it is likely to cause procrastination, not productivity. 

Deadlines don’t motivate people to do work. Financial incentives do.

If your client claims that a project deadline is necessary to “motivate the team” politely suggest that if they really want to motivate their team, they should let everyone go home early once the goal is reached. 

My $0.02.

—J

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