• Question: Is it hard when you're under pressure to do in a specific time allocated.

    Asked by kiwi-rocks to Matthew, Neil, Paula, Pete, Philippa on 13 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Neil Taylor

      Neil Taylor answered on 13 Mar 2015:


      Hi kiwi-rocks!

      Yes – engineering can be tough when you are under pressure to meet a deadline. This is one of the realities of life, however; you are using your engineering skill to produce something – and there will usually be an acceptable timescale and cost associated with this!

      What I would say, however, is that being under pressure shouldn’t make you rush anything, as this can lead to mistakes. This is one of the times where planning ahead and communicating the time pressure can be valuable (preferably when you first realise that it is an issue!). Can you share the workload? Can the time allocated be renegotiated? These are useful questions to ask to lessen the burden.

      So to summarise – yes it can be hard, but there are usually things you can do to help yourself out… speaking to the team around you is a great place to start!

      Hope this helps!

    • Photo: Philippa Jefferis

      Philippa Jefferis answered on 13 Mar 2015:


      Sometimes, with the best plan in the world, things still go wrong and you find yourself pushed for time. Then you have to work hard to make sure you meet your deadline, but as Neil said, you shouldn’t rush! The quality of your work needs to stay high, so the best thing to try and do is negotiate an extension by explaining why things fell behind schedule.

Comments