Deadlines you can’t keep

A good way to do great things fast is to set a deadline you probably can’t keep. Doing this removes the bullshit and leaves behind only what matters; like sifting out the dirt and leaving the gold. Instead of asking what you could do, you ask what you must do. When you have plenty of time, it tends to fill up with coulds. We could do this, we could do that. This is especially true for engineers. Great engineers can always see things to improve. That’s part of what makes them great. But it also means there is an endless supply of coulds. Ambitious deadlines focus ambitious people on the musts. This sort of deadline is no longer an estimate of when things will have happened by, but a tool to make things happen. And here’s what I’ve learned about deadlines you probably can’t keep: you only think you can’t keep them. Once you get to work you’ll find you were probably wrong about that. And if you do fail, you’ll have made more progress than the alternative. You’ll fail well.