ASAP Is Not A Deadline, ASAP Is An Excuse

pbenson.net

4 points·bokmann··5 comments

People abuse the notion of course, sometimes it means "this is something we didn't know we needed, and had we put it on the schedule we would have already have done it." Sometimes it means, "some outside force is putting pressure on the project so the timeline has shifted" and yes it can mean "I'm an idiot and don't know how to communicate urgency."

I wonder what the context is for the writer where they have encountered it so often, them mention IT but don't go into details.

ASAP is equally rude and lazy. Define when you need something by and tell the person why. Offer them the ability to agree to your request, or to politely and promptly reject it, with reasons why.

ASAP is a warning flag. Avoid working with the ASAP brigade. If you must, then educate them in the above.

Any other opinions/solutions?

I actually think if not most, then at least many of those who use ASAP do it, unknowing that it can be harmful. So yeah, people must be educated on this, both those who need to get a task done and the one who is supposed to do it.

Did it myself until I realized that it was the reason I haven't yet completed a task because all the other ones had a deadline.

Define "possible", it's quite a relative term.

What should someone actually do when they really do need something done as soon as possible? It clearly shouldn't happen, but it still does.

Edit: re-reading TFA, it seems like his "Now" means what I thought "ASAP" should mean, so perhaps we don't really disagree.

99 times out of a hundred ASAP = Idiot Alert

The hundredth time it's someones who's in a spot and needs some help.

You can immediately tell which category the request falls into by examining who it's from. You don't need even need the added context of the message.

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