Extending Deadlines

If deadlines are extended, the consequences are usually not in the most favorable condition. One of the reasons as to why extending deadlines does not equal better work is that we lose motivation to work on the project or issue. Whenever you push back a deadline, you are increasing the distance once again between you and the finish line. Now more urgent goals will loom large and your original goal will languish in the back of your mind. Another issue that arises is that we tend to procrastinate which means that the deadline extension would in effect be utterly useless. If that software development project would have another deadline, most of us would stop working as hard on it and end up finishing at the very end anyway. Also, we are terrible judges of how long things will take. First, we routinely fail to consider our own past experiences while planning. As any professor can tell you, most college seniors, after four straight years of paper-writing, still can't seem to figure out how long it will take them to write a 10-page paper. The solutions? Set smaller deadlines and spell out what you have to do and how long you think it will take.