On Deadlines

By Natalie Houston. Some hard (and sometimes hard-won) truths about deadlines, academic and otherwise:
Some deadlines are really, truly, firm. And some are not.
Some deadlines come with negative consequences for not meeting them in a timely fashion. Some do not.
Some negative consequences take physical or visible forms, such as late fees, delayed diplomas, or cancelled accounts. Some negative consequences are psychological and emotional, such as feelings of embarrassment, guilt, or shame.
Deadlines and their flexibility are, like other resources, typically unevenly distributed (within an organization, within a profession, within the world more broadly). This means that some people have more ability to renegotiate a deadline than others do. More...