Do you work better with a looming deadline?

[billybiro]

Honestly? I'm lazy as a **** with a horrendous procrastination streak. It's literally the desire for money and the fear of getting sacked that has got me this far.

Of course - it never does me any good because I normally end up working like mad on something I could have taken my time over.

So, uh yeah.

Peter Gibbons, is that you?

[billybiro]

...it's not because my estimates are an accurate reflection of how long the work will take, it's that I speed up or slow down as appropriate to make the estimate look right. I don't think project managers understand that.

Parkinson's Law in action!

[Pip in a Poke]

Parkinson's Law in action!

Redacted

[original PM]

Indeed - which is why in Agile especially it is important to always keep a backlog of work so the need to complete what you are doing and move onto the next thing is always visible and pressing.

I think also this idea that I will wait until the last minute before I start in case something changes is also flawed - mainly because often you will only need to change 10% of what you have done rather than try and squeeze the 100% into much less time.