Sometimes things like this happen. I had planned to spend some time writing a post that has been simmering in the back of my mind for a while now. But wouldn’t you just know it, an unexpected meeting has come up, and suddenly I’m only got 15 minutes. But I need to get a blog post done today, now.

Which means I need a new idea to write about, something I can get done quickly. But I was severely lacking in inspiration, or so I thought. Turns out, when the deadline looms, words start to flow.

And haven’t we all experienced that in project management? How many times have you been ambushed by senior management with surprise meetings, attendance compulsory, which knock out your personal schedule of work? How many times have you had a deadline suddenly imposed from outside, and suddenly you have to produce something that hadn’t been asked for, with practically no notice?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in that position before. I’m almost convinced there is a type of manager who delights in springing deadlines on his staff, like a teacher handing out pop quizzes to a class.

Hopefully, most of the time these deadlines will just be demands for information on the project, which you should be able to meet fairly easily thanks to the monitoring you are doing. But sometimes you get a real doozy of a question, something that means you have to produce something new.

And this is when all our techniques for managing work, and tasks, and time, are blown out of the water by someone above us. So what do you do?

Well, I tend to embrace the power of the deadline. Like I was saying about this post, inspiration didn’t seem to be coming, but the deadline looming kick-started my brain. And this can happen with your work as well – knowing you have to deliver, and fast, can reduce the mental delays that we all inflict on ourselves in some way.

Not that this is an ideal situation – much as I’d like to kid myself, this post is unlikely to be of a quality I’m happy with. But sometimes, we need to make sure we deliver something with some value quickly, rather than massive value late. So embrace the adrenaline surge the deadline provides, and get working!

And, after the fuss and the commotion of an imminent deadline has died down, take your manager aside and point out to him that, really, you need more notice of these sort of requests! It’s all very well responding in an emergency, but your time is part of the project resources too, and that means you need to guard it as jealously as you do the time of your project team.

I hope this has delivered some value, because I really have to go now – don’t worry, I’ll have a word with myself to make sure this sort of deadline doesn’t crop up again…