How to Deal with Impossible Timelines

You just started a data project, and the timeline is impossible. Now what?

First, resist the urge to push back. You’ll do that soon. Now ask them why they feel the said timeline is important to them.

What’s the minimum deliverable that will satisfy the need with that timeline? Allow them to process and respond. Often, the proposed timeline is arbitrary due to a lack of understanding of how much work is required for a data project. Sometimes, it's out of frustration because they had an unpleasant experience before, receiving no communication on progress until they had posed a deadline. This seems to be a frequent occurrence.

You have two goals going into this kind of timeline meeting.

1) You need to build trust. Make them know you know what you are doing.

2) You want to buy time. Almost no data projects finish within the planned time frame because of the complexity of data.

Now two steps to accomplish the goals above:

1) Help them understand you understand their needs now by paraphrasing what they say back to them.

2) Express your needs for more time because items A, B, and C need to happen first to ensure a successful delivery.

Now you’ve engaged your stakeholders mindfully and should be able to negotiate the timeline with mutual understanding.

Try it and let me know how it works for you. Follow me on Twitter @MoJVillagran and send me a DM.