i was talking to a colleague the other day about this very topic and i thought it would help me to get my thoughts down here…
DISCLAIMER: THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU
it’s easy to read a bit too much into the type of dynamic i’m describing – i’m not concerned about individuals in this case (or many, many others), just the dynamic it creates. So here goes…on the teams that i have worked with, and this pretty much includes my entire scholastic and professional career, there are the people who prep early (early birds) and those who prep late (crunch time). variety is the spice of life, i don’t really care which one a person is, but i was thinking about how based on this work preference it impacts the other group. like anyone who took biology and studied dominant and recessive traits i made my little chart and it looks like, at best, both are bothered equally, but at worst the early birds are more “inconvenienced” if you will. i know its hard for a crunch time to conceive thinking about something due in a month, but it’s also a hassle for early birds to have to address issues at the last minute that they think should have been covered weeks ago. i thought about it in two terms: work being done and planning. if the work is done early then it satisfies both early and late. if the work is done late it only becomes and issue with the early. if the planning is done early the lates prefer not to think like that, if the planning is done late then the early birds are already at their wits end, or have done the planning already. am i muddling it all up? like most things i like to think about, there’s no right way, but it is important to realize that when early birds and crunch times work together, their prefered mode of planning and working is going to be an issue, at some point, with those who fall on the other side. so what’s the solution? really, what is it?
