I finally admitted my project timeline was too optimistic and it saved the whole thing

I was sitting in my home office in Austin last Thursday at 11 PM, trying to cram a full website build into a 2-week window. I had promised a local bakery owner I'd have their site live by the 15th. Around midnight, the contact form broke and I lost 3 hours of progress. I stopped, called the client the next morning, and straight-up said I needed an extra 5 days. She was fine with it. The site launched on the 20th, she got 12 orders from it in the first week. Has anyone else found that being honest about timing actually builds more trust than hitting a fake deadline?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas.river3d ago

Respectfully, I see this a little differently. Meeting a deadline you set is a basic part of being a professional, even if it means working late or pulling all-nighters. The bakery owner was probably relieved you came clean, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't have been just as happy with the site on the 15th. Pushing back a timeline becomes a habit if you let it, and before you know it, every project has a built-in excuse. There is value in making your estimate and then doing whatever it takes to hit it.

fionat553d ago

No, I get what you're saying @thomas.river, but (and this is totally off-topic so bear with me) it just reminded me of this contractor my neighbor hired to redo her deck. He showed up late every single day, took twice as long as he said, and she was still thrilled because he did good work and was honest about the delays. Some people really do value the relationship over the timeline, you know? I'm not saying that's always the right call professionally, but it's funny how often being upfront about a slip-up works out better than killing yourself to hit a date that maybe wasn't realistic in the first place.

vera_green693d ago

@thomas.river nailed it - slack on one deadline and you'll be late forever, just like my old boss used to say.

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