Big Projects, Short Deadlines

What is HTML All The Things

HTML All The Things is a web development podcast and discord community which was started by Matt and Mike, developers based in Ontario, Canada.

The podcast speaks to web development topics as well as running a small business, self employment and time management. You can join them for both their successes and their struggles as they try to manage expanding their Web Development business without stretching themselves too thin.

What's This One About?

In this episode Matt and Mike discuss dealing with large projects with rapidly approaching deadlines. We all know that managing your time and tasks appropriately can really help alleviate stress and concern over large projects, however, all that management takes time - time you don't always have. Rapidly approaching deadlines can force your hand into just diving straight into a large project with minimal (if any) task/project management - which can put a lot of pressure on you and your team. The duo discuss how they deal with this stress and how they can even push that deadline back a bit without raising too much alarm from a client.

Show Notes

1:35 - Introduction

2:50 - What happens when you have a project where you don't have time to manage it?

15:35 - The don't miss deadlines myth

20:35 - Do you ever push a deadline?

29:00 - If the project isn't managed, do you still delagate tasks to employees or contractors?

38:30 - The balance between customer feedback and your own judgment

44:23 - Do you try to buy yourself time on a project when you're running close to a deadline?

Key Takeaways

• When starting a new project, start with creating the initial project structure as well as the initial template layout. This gives a good starting point compared to a blank page.
• When faced with a large list of tasks, tackling the most difficult (pinnacle) tasks initially can help make sure they go smoothly. If there's immediate issues with those tasks you can reach out to clients early to let them know of potential delays.
• Be clear with your customers about potential delays
• As the expert that was hired to do a web site or web application, sometimes you have to use your best judgement instead of relying on feedback from your client

Social Links

You can find us on all the podcast platforms out there as well as

Instagram (@htmlallthethings)
Twitter (@htmleverything)
Facebook (Html All The Things)

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