Projects and Procrastination

One of my favorite hobbies is to build custom longboards in unique shapes and designs. Though I’m not what one would consider a “rider,” I have a passion for building them. I’ve made roses, dragons, keyboards, to name a few. Once, a friend requested a board from me in the shape of a flying-V guitar.

Having built plenty of boards before, I figured I could just whip something up when the time called for it. Despite having months in advance, I put the project off, starting just a few days before the deadline.

The board was cut and sanded successfully, but the final design process was a disaster. With only spray paint bottles, stencils, masking tape, and very little time left, I stayed up all night painting, pushing the drying times to their limits. When my friend came to pick it up, the paint started to bubble and peel.

I was going to have to spend hours stripping the paint away in order to repaint it. I had no choice but to push the deadline back. In project management, I think it is easy for team members, managers, and executives alike to get comfortable with “the way things have always been done.”

For whatever reason, individuals may feel that because they have mastered their job, no adjustments need to be made to their previous project management processes. They may think that because they have successfully executed projects in the past, any future project should be smooth sailing. Once this type of thinking sets in, it is easy to procrastinate.

I think almost everyone does this, some more than others. However, it is a problem when projects are procrastinated to the point where time, cost, and quality standards are compromised. It becomes a major problem when procrastination is a habit in every project a person does, when a deadline is always pushed to the very end.

Project management software can certainly help keep project teams and their tasks on schedule, but if a project has been delayed for too long, the level of tooling doesn’t matter. I once heard a project manager say something to this effect: “If you don’t have enough time to execute a project well, you certainly don’t have time to start over.” There’s a point where there’s no turning back, where there’s no possibility of recovering a project. Like the drying times on a painted surface, some projects just can’t be rushed.