Why do people always make things seem like they take more time then they really do? I’ve recently been involved with a couple of new projects and the trend of exaggerating a simple task seems to be more rampant then ever. I get that there is an inherent desire to make yourself feel important and get others to think you’re indispensable. What I don’t get is why someone would risk having their bluff called when jobs are scarce and companies are looking for any reason to make cuts. If something takes an hour to do, don’t tell me it takes a day and then take two. Do your job and do it well because there are plenty of people just waiting for the opportunity to show you up.

I don’t want to point fingers but in my experience, IT folks and developer types are the biggest culprits when it comes to shifting the space-time continuum to suit their needs. Before starting my own business I worked for a number of different types of companies in a project manager or marketing manager capacity. The bigger the company the more rampant the problem and at one company I worked with several coworkers that actually suggested I slow down, I guess I was cramping their style. I’m not sure if this is a regional problem or if it’s happening everywhere but it definitely seems like it’s worse then ever lately, maybe it has something to do with more of the workforce being from Generation Y.

Checking and updating Facebook/Twitter/MySpace, reading Slashdot/CNN/etcetera has become part of the daily routine, not to mention managing several personal email accounts and IMing. I don’t think I could work for a company that restricted or monitored my use of the Internet  but I’m starting to think that is the only way to get people to actually do their job. Lately I’ve gotten into the habit of telling people how long I believe something should take based on my experience but it doesn’t always work because there are so many great excuses. Why are you procrastinating? What should you be doing instead of reading this post?