A fresh project brings along a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. You have your budget, your schedule, a plan and you are all set to roll. Of course, your resources are tied up and you are certain that the project will be completed as scheduled – this is how every project begins.

As time passes and you realize that your project schedule is delayed, despite all your efforts to complete it on time, you may be in a dilemma. A lot of confusion in combination with hesitation and dubious thoughts leads to wrong steps. It is very important that at this time, you should try to concentrate on getting things right. When you are already behind your scheduled time, even being the best designer or graphic design course certification will not help you if you don’t know how to set things right.

Why the delay?

It has been found that most projects are delayed due to the fact that project designers are unusually optimistic about their plans. While it is good to be confident, overconfidence is unappreciable. Even the best graphic design course does not help with time management if you are not disciplined.

There are reasons for delay, like:

  •     Over Optimistic Planing: Projects are often delayed as a result of unrealistic deadlines. If you try to do a lot of work in very little time, it is definitely going to fire back. Therefore, you must be in control of the situation and try to ensure that you have some extra days in hand. Even if you understand that you can complete your project within 10 days, you must take time up to 12 days. Strict deadlines can often be too pushy. It will keep you on your toes and may affect your project quality too.
  •     Unchecked Resources: If you do not check your resources in advance, you will have several reasons to be worried about. Hiring external and internal resources to build a team is one of the important factors. Make sure you have a committed team.

Mistakes To Avoid
When you are already lagging behind, you have very little choice to make amends. In order to make sure that you do not fail any further, you will have to reverse the process immediately by trying to renegotiating the project. Renegotiation is not just about the money part, but also with respect to time and the agreement between you and your client. All these important factors will have to be taken into consideration.

There are some things that you should NEVER do if you have failed your deadline:

  •     Do not be flake: This is the last thing you can be when everything else is going topsy-turvy. If you are flake, your project and client will go. If yours is an old and reliable client, you will be losing your business too.
  •     Don’t avoid calls: When you have already missed your deadline, don’t think of making things worse by not attending your client’s calls. You must call up and inform your client about the current schedule. If you have not done that you are already on the wrong foot. Don’t make it worse by avoiding calls.
  •     Ignore the project details: If you ignore the project details, you are simply nailing the coffin. So, try to follow each minute detail of the project.

It is always possible to save a drowning man if careful measures are taken; in the same way, it is possible to take proper measures to make sure your delay is rectified.