The 9 IT Managers’ secrets to meet their deadlines

As IT Manager, you often have to deal with short deadlines when conducting ambitious projects. Managing time and deadlines is not an easy process, as you often lack time to meet the requirements. The same problem holds true for managers who manage a team because they have to make sure that every task is realized in due time.

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Start by adapting the projects to the deadline and not the time period to the project
This tip will help you avoid losing time. It is indeed easier to be more efficient by setting a deadline beforehand and by inciting the team to realize the project within a specific time period instead of introducing a project and asking then the team to find the best deadline for its realization. This tip enables IT Managers to enhance their teams’ reactivity and to succeed in distributing the tasks within a short deadline.
As IT Manager, you need to be able to handle tasks
As IT Manager, it is beneficial to be able to fragment big projects into smaller and smaller tasks. Similarly, it is interesting to fragment deadlines in function of the priorities: a one-month deadline can be fragmented into several mini-missions of several weeks or days.
Monitoring the team day by day
Team managers have the tendency to check their team members’ work at the end of the predetermined deadline. To become more efficient, it is beneficial to ask the team members about their progress day by day. It is then better to set predetermined checks enabling to avoid contretemps and to boost one’s productivity.
Avoid postponing the deadlines and sticking to the set date
A task that needs to be performed in two weeks will have to be completed after these two weeks even if the follows-up forecast unforeseen events. It is then compulsory not to postpone the deadline even if the team lags behind. It is better to incite them to finish in due time instead of encouraging a delay.
Ranking the tasks is the better means to gain time and to be more efficient
An experienced IT Manager will have to be able to guide his team and efficiently distribute the tasks according to the priorities. He will also have to ensure that his team works seriously and is willing to be more efficient.
In order to be more productive, one needs to multitask
Trying to do several tasks at once can diminish a company’s productivity and slow down a team’s efficiency. Dealing with one task at a time and focusing one’s attention on each and every task will help the manager to manage time more efficiently. Sticking to the point is therefore considered as an advantage.
Creating a leeway
It is interesting to create a leeway, as unforeseen events can unfortunately not be avoided. Postponing the deadline of a project is not worth considering. It seems more beneficial to grant an extension of one or two days in order to realize the project.
Granting and giving oneself a bit of time to relax from time to time
Working too hard is not beneficial in the long-term, as it only leads to a decrease in productivity and to a mental exhaustion.
Establishing a list of priorities and imperatives in order not to get lost
There also exists apps enabling to better handle an on going project.

Take away

Each of these tips enables managers to become more efficient. In fact, all IT Managers will agree to say that the best way to meet deadlines is to organise and rank the tasks as well as to delete the least important tasks while realizing the most important ones.