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Arbitrary Deadlines Are the Enemy of Creativity, According to Harvard Research (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-we-work dept.

Time can feel like the enemy to an employee in any role, and in any industry, but it's most acutely threatening to creative types. From a report: We may tease them for their diva-like behaviors when they feel persecuted by a deadline, but we have to admit that "develop an amazing new idea" is not something that slides into your schedule, like pick up lunch or respond to new clients. Nor can systems be tweaked and extra hands hired to help hit a goal that requires innovation, the way they can when mundane busy work is piling up. And yet deadlines are a fact of life for any company that wants to stay competitive. In a recent Harvard Business School podcast, professor Teresa Amabile, whose academic career has focused on individuals, teams, and creativity, offers some guidance for managers who struggle to support or coax their creative talent. She explains that although the creative process itself can't be controlled, certain structures can set up the conditions to move it along. When possible, managers should avoid tight deadlines for creative projects. In her work, Amabile found that creative teams can produce ideas on a deadline, and creative people may feel productive on high-pressured days, but their ideas won't be inspired.

8 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Not enough time to make an insightful first post by Aero77 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Curse these deadlines!

  2. Rumination by omnichad · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Rumination is free labor. If I'm thinking about a project for several weeks when I'm in the shower, trying to sleep, driving - that's extra overtime for free.

    Doing all of my thinking on a tight deadline while also doing the actual design or coding involves a lot of bad guessing. But there comes a point where I could just think about all the possibilities forever and never start or get anything done.

    1. Re:Rumination by ranton · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Doing all of my thinking on a tight deadline while also doing the actual design or coding involves a lot of bad guessing. But there comes a point where I could just think about all the possibilities forever and never start or get anything done.

      Like most things, you aren't going to get good results if you don't have implementation teams you can trust to give realistic estimates. And management teams who listen to these estimates, while probably making slight adjustments based on past results (almost always adding time to the estimates).

      I'm in a project right now where we were introduced to the project early October, sat down for a full day requirements gathering session mid-October, and gave estimates by the end of October. We estimated code completion in mid-January. They gave us a mid-December deadline. The product will now be complete at the end of January, after spending weeks in constant status meetings trying to hit that ridiculous deadline.

      In the end the only thing that changed from the results we promised in our first estimates is now the team's two architect-level resources are prepping our resumes just in case this type of shit doesn't happen again and/or this year's bonus isn't a high five figure amount (aka starting with a 3+).

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    2. Re:Rumination by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      There is a difference between an Arbitrary deadlines vs no deadlines.

      Often we will get a deadline, based on the Boss trying to impress a partner, or a customer, or just beat competition to the market. These deadlines are not based on what it would take to do the job right and best. However if someone went to me and say we need to solve this problem, I can usually give a fair ballpark figure on when it can be done by, and add some buffer for unforeseen problems, Then you can have a good deadline, where the project keeps moving and gets done, without stressing and taking shortcuts to meet it.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  3. Two obvious examples by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    Systemd and Gnome 3. These would have been much better if the deadline was around 2075.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  4. You needed a scientist to figure that out? by computational+super · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What's next? We'll discover that noisy open office bullpens aren't conducive to any sort of work that requires concentration? Or will we discover that most managers don't much care about productivity as long as they maintain the illusion of control?

    --
    Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
  5. But often things don't get done... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    if you don't have a deadline. What's the compromise?

    Seriously, I've noticed that after working just over twenty years managing programmers and a few product people that things get done when you schedule a spec review or a demo.

  6. Best Busines Reason Ever! by avandesande · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Once I asked an application owner what was driving the absurdly short timeline and he replied with a straight face that it was when his yearly review was to occur.

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism