Facing challenges like Student Syndrome, Parkinson's Law, Self-Protection, and Sandbagging in our team?
🚀 Here's a quick quality check on these issues:1️⃣ Student Syndrome (Planned Procrastination): You or the team delay doing project activities until right before the deadline. This name came about due to the typical behavior of a student who delays studying until the last days before exams. When a project starts, team members often start off casually, intensifying their efforts as the project deadline approaches. It is because people keep postponing important tasks until they become urgent. This often results in a less than satisfactory outcome due to a lack of time and focus. Contingency is wasted, and risk is increased and puts the team under stress and pressure.
2️⃣ Parkinson's Law (Time Expansion): People allow work to expand to fill the time allotted. For eg: if you assign a task at 9 am and ask someone to submit it by 6 pm, they might take the full 9 to 6 (9 hours) to do the work when the actual effort required is only 2 hours. In project, this means that people will spend all of the time allocated to complete a task, regardless of how long it actually takes. This can lead to inefficient use of time and resources and can cause delays. This law is often cited as a reason why projects tend to take longer than expected, and why deadlines are often missed.
3️⃣ Self-Protection (Task or Conflict Avoidance): People protect themselves in tasks or conflicts by saying things that would not hurt them now or in the future. For eg: not completing work on time or with quality, fearing that management will demand the same standards in the future. This occurs due to the tendency of individuals to protect their sense of identity and self-worth in a team or organizational setting. This can manifest as self-justification and a reluctance to cooperate with others, which can lead to conflict and a loss of team performance.
4️⃣ Sandbagging (Padding Estimates): This is a phenomenon where teams or individuals intentionally inflate their estimates or timelines for completing a project or task, anticipating that their estimates will be ignored or reduced. Sometimes, the team practices holding complete work until the true due date arrives. Sandbagging can result in a lack of trust and communication within a team and lead to unrealistic expectations, delays, and budget overruns. It can also lead to a lack of accountability, transparency, and ownership within a team, as individuals may not feel motivated to complete tasks on time or to the best of their ability. It can also damage trust and credibility between team members and stakeholders as well.
🌟 Recognizing and addressing these challenges is key to fostering a high-performing and transparent team culture. Let's strive for open communication, realistic planning, and a culture of accountability!