Even experts systematically underestimate how much time a task will take. As a result, many are under stress just before the delivery. The solution would be simple: postpone the deadline. But many hesitate to do so because they fear it would leave a bad impression on superiors or business partners – unwisely, as experiments by the Harvard Business School with more than 4,000 test persons suggest.
Ashley Whillans’ team asked the subjects, among other things, to spend two minutes describing as many images as possible in detail. At any time while the countdown was running on the screen, they could click a button that said “I need more time” to add another minute to the deadline. However, another test person would find out about this, who would later evaluate their performance as a supervisor – at least that’s what some of the test subjects were led to believe. These then hesitated more than those whose supervisors would not find out about it.
However, those who hesitated overestimated the impact that the postponed deadline would have on their performance evaluation. The subjects in the supervisor role actually concluded that they had less competence, but not as much as feared. Asking for an extension in good time also has other advantages, the researchers write in the journal “Journal of Experimental Social Psychology”: It can prevent the stress and anger that threatens if the deadline is missed. It proves that you can correctly assess your own abilities. And the results of the work actually turned out better.