I seem to spend my entire life with exactly two
groups of people - Starteruppers and Parents. There are very few
differences between these two groups of people. They are both committed
to raising things of their own creation, they are multi-taskers, they
have their eyes on the future and they are madly trying to do too many
things at the same time.
There is one primary difference,
however, that I see almost universally. Parents know when something
actually matters, and are able to let things slide when they don't
REALLY matter. Clothes on the kid matters, (clean clothes, less
important.) Kid to school, and fed several times a day matters, (PBJ
will work in a pinch, even if you intended to make port roast.) That
pile of laundry? Screw it, it will still be there tomorrow, maybe even
the next day and the day after that.
I cannot possibly list how
many of my friends are perpetually stressed out about meeting deadlines
within their startups. I have taken to asking them, "is that like food,
or is it like laundry?" It matters, a lot. While deadlines, focus and
momentum are of paramount importance in any business, they are often
arbitrary, fuzzy and come with a cost. It is of vital importance that
we learn, as "business parents" to tell the difference between an
arbitrary deadline, a fuzzy deadline and a real deadline - and to be
able to assess the cost and benefit of meeting the deadlines we set.
1.
Real Deadlines are things that are created externally by market
conditions. If, for instance, you are creating an iPhone app that helps
people find the best locally grown peaches in town, you have a real
deadline. You better be up and running by May, which will give you time
to get PR and have a user base when the peaches ripen in June. If you
miss it, you are done for another year. Peach season is a real deadline.
- Cost of Hitting Deadline: Hardcore crunch makes people tired, but
because it is clearly finite, people can generally withstand it. You
risk shot nerves and snark, but that often can be overcome with beer,
pizza and the knowledge that it is temporary and will give you the
reward of getting to market.
- Cost of NOT Hitting Deadline: Death.
- Benefit of Hitting Deadline: Life
Real deadline. Nail it.
2.
Fuzzy deadlines are usually dictated by things like partners,
collaborators and investors. They're realish, but not usually life and
death. Let's say that you publish a digital magazine and you have a
project lined up with a major national brand that will enable you to
reach hundreds of thousands of new viewers. You create content, line up
the plan, but for a variety of reasons, the deadline you set together
just isn't going to get hit. The plan is in place and you can hit it
next month. Annoying and maybe heartbreaking, but what's really at play?
- Cost of Hitting Deadline: If it is possible, it will require a lot of
people working way too hard for something that they know could happen
next month instead. The stress and ill-will is NOT easily overcome in
these cases. The dialog between partners and collaborators will likely
turn angry and nasty which may erode your future working relationship.
- Cost of NOT Hitting Deadline: Disappointment, which usually subsides
with the time to sleep and play. Having to tell people that you're
going to be delayed, which is usually a big ego blow, but most people
in business understand these things. Delayed revenue and traffic, which
sucks.
- Benefit of Hitting Deadline: Progress, checking something
off the list, traffic and revenue, momentum, the good vibes of getting
it done. Those all matter greatly, but will still be there next month.
- Benefit of NOT Hitting Deadline: Sanity, goodwill, stronger working
relationships. The time to get it done RIGHT rather than just get it
done. The nebulous lesson that things can change unexpectedly and that
you are strong and nimble enough to ride it out.
Fuzzy Deadline. Let it shift.
3.
Arbitrary deadlines are, in my opinion, the things that kill most of
us. An arbitrary deadline is a date that you circled on the calendar
because you wanted to launch something at that time. For no real
reason. You are launching a product that will help people wash laundry
better than before, you chose June 16th because that is your mother's
birthday and that woman could wash socks like nobody's business.
Working backwards from that date, you decided that staff had to be
hired by February 2. It's Jan 15 and you still haven't found the right
people, you're totally stressed, turning into an asshole and it's
getting ugly. (And everyone in your house has Swine Flu and you really
don't think you have time to care for them right now.)
- Cost of
Hitting The Deadline: Losing sleep and friends. Making bad decisions
because you've put yourself in a pressure situation that makes it hard
to think. Your own health, because stress is bad for you!
- Cost of NOT Hitting The Deadline: None
- Benefit of Hitting the Deadline: Momentum and the undeniable "high" of
being on your way. The ability to tell people that you're on your way.
- Benefit of Missing the Deadline: Making better decisions. Being happy
and sane, which, in turn, makes you a better person in your real life
and your work life.
Arbitrary Deadline. Screw It.
Most
of our business lives may not seem that black and white, but most of
them are. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, putting unrealistic
expectations on ourselves based on arbitrary beliefs and the fear of
being judged by others.
There are also VERY REAL things like
budgets that get shifted when our deadlines shift, but those are fairly
easily factored in when you step back from things. Yes, longer
timelines mean longer burn - you should have factored that in, and
there is always a work around.
But you have to learn to look at
the human beings you work with as a limited resource, just like your
bank account. If you exhaust, stress and deplete your human capital,
you are just as screwed as if you deplete your bank account. If hitting
deadlines depletes your human capital and does not ADD to your bank
account and market share immediately, it's probably not worth it.
If it is
a race between human capital and cash capital, reallocate resources.
Spend less money somewhere so that you have the luxury of making good
decisions and creating a healthy environment. (Giving up office space, but keeping a great staff that can work remotely seems like a no-brainer.)
Ask any parent
who opted to go see Where The Wild Things Are on Sunday afternoon with
their kids rather than tackling the laundry. Or any person who let
their marriage fall apart in order to hit an arbitrary deadline. The
cost benefit analysis is big - and extends far beyond the lines on a P
& L. (Unless we start adding "everyone hates me and there is a
civil war brewing at the office" as an "L.")
There are pros and
cons to everything, and unless you learn to look at both, you're likely
to get buried under a mountain of your own dirty laundry and no one is
going to want to help you.
_________
Alyssa Royse is the
founder of
JUST CAUSE Magazine, the November / December issue of which
was originally supposed to come out today, but will come out next week
instead. She does not do laundry or cleaning of any sort, but does cook
a good meal for her friends and family most nights of the week. (Also, she was supposed to post yesterday, not today, but was recovering from Swine Flu and had to proof said Nov / Dec issue, so let this deadline slip.)