Constant frantic rush jobs mask a dysfunctional system caused by poor planning and overpromising. Routine rush requests shift work onto those staying late and create unfair burdens. Allowing one role to make last-minute demands while others stay late leads to burnout and a normalization of false emergencies. True emergencies, such as catastrophic events, are rare exceptions. Requiring responsible parties to share the late work imposes accountability and dramatically reduces unnecessary rush jobs. When every task becomes an emergency, importance is diluted and genuine crises receive less attention. Enforcing planning discipline restores order and reduces avoidable overtime.
With the exception of a client's building burning down, any rush job means that someone, somewhere, didn't do his or her job. So if an account executive wound up having a rush job, he or she wasn't allowed to blithely make the request and then go home for the night. Instead, if the creative team was staying late, the account executive had to stay late too. Amazing how that cut down on rush jobs.
Constant frantic rush jobs mask a dysfunctional system. In the panic to get things done, it's easy to ask, 'So why is this a rush job in the first place?' It means a lack of planning or a sales guy who overpromised.
I worked for longer than I should have at a place where there were so many 'emergencies' that were caused by someone else not doing their job. When everything is an emergency, nothing is an emergency.
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