Task deadlines can also lead to sub optimization. Sub optimization occurs whenever you do what is best for the part at the cost of whole. All this is in addition to the odd behavior caused by deadlines. And they generally multitask their way through every day. But these behaviors are well covered in both Eli Goldratt s Critical Chain and Rob Newbold s Project Management in the Fast Lane , as well as in articles that can be found on the ProChain web site.
Priorities are an alternative to deadlines.
Consider what it would be like to give people a task, or even a list of tasks, and agree to a stable prioritization of them. Ask them to be clear about and meet requirements of each task. And then let them work without interruption or multitasking. Once they are done with a task, be sure that they know who to pass the task on to and emphasize that the task is not done until it has been handed off to that person. The contrast with deadlines is great and so are the results.