Precision Matters In Deadlines

Nothing kills a positive team dynamic faster than when one or more team members miss a deadline. Our personal and team schedules are dependent on everyone completing their work “on time” so that other members can do their parts. And of course, we habitually use unprecise language when assigning deadlines.

Our corporate vocabulary is rife with ambiguity, most of which we consider to be completely transparent and irrefutable. Some misunderstandings are rooted in generational differences, others because of cultural differences, and still others because of assumptions that we make about the meaning of words; we believe that they are specific when in fact they are not.

When it comes to bringing clarity into your day, your expectations, and the work that you do as a team, the first place to start is by being specific about deadlines. Every deadline.

The world runs on deadlines, and, in my experience, deadlines are the source of the majority of confusion that arises among team members, partners, clients, etc. If humans can add complexity to what should be simple, we will!

Clarity in deadlines allows everyone to know the required timeline and then work towards it. Here’s one area where casual language does not help you relate to anyone: Don’t worry about sounding like a “stickler.” Precision has its place, and its place is in deadlines.

How come? Because we like to use phrases like "later" or "tomorrow" or "end of day" or "by the end of the week" that allow so much room for interpretation that you could drive a truck through the gap between the articulation of the deadline and the intention of the deadline.

How much later is it? "Is it the end of the day?" Or "the end of the business day?"  That is, "tomorrow"? Would you like to hear "End of the month?" "Tuesday?” Or “noon?”

When is later? Later is never. It never gets here.

It is possible that it is technically later than the time that you initiated the conversation; nevertheless, later is such an infinite quantity that it is hard to pinpoint. You might go back to the person you assigned a “later” deadline to to find out they have a much different timeline in mind than yours. It happens all the time. (See what I did there?)

 Today? Well, whose day? In what time zone? For me, today technically ends at 11 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds in the Central Time Zone. That definition of today is never going to work for me as a deadline, ever. As my mother used to say, "I said March; I didn't say which year.”

Terms such as “end of business” or “close of business” used to mean 5pm in the physical office you were in. Double Forte has people in four time zones with flexible schedules that differ every day, it seems. I suggest eradicating those terms from your vocabulary; they are meaningless.

You will dramatically improve the chance for people to meet your expectations if you are specific about the times you are communicating, including the time, day, date, and time zone.

Give exact times on particular days.

• In place of "EOD" or "End of Day," substitute "5 p.m., Tuesday, February 2nd."
• In place of "COB," which stands for "close of business," add 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3.
• Substitute "Later" with "4 o'clock today,” or better yet, “4pm today, in your time zone."”
• Instead of "End of Month," use "Friday, March 31st, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern."
• Don’t just say a day of the week, say "Tuesday, September 3rd at 10am."
• Substitute "tomorrow" with "tomorrow, Thursday at 3pm, pacific."
• Instead of saying "come see me soon," say something like, "Please get on my calendar before next Friday at 3 p.m. central time."

With this level of granularity, there is no room for misunderstanding. Be precise, and watch misunderstandings evaporate from your team.

Much more on deadlines and driving clarity at leecaraher.com.