Working late to finish a project at work - AIBU

[notagainnn]

I'm working on a project for our client. The client was late in giving us the documents needed to start on the project, so instead of 2 months to work on it I have a week. One of the pieces of work I received to work on is in really bad shape and requires a lot more time and effort than was expected. As a result, I'm falling behind on my deadlines.

I was supposed to finish it by end of day today, so it could go to senior management for our internal review tomorrow morning. I worked until 8pm and I'm still not even half-way through. I also noticed when working on it this evening that it's incomplete and we need to go back to the client to get some more documents for it (which is going to put us even further behind, and I feel guilty for not noticing it earlier and flagging it).

In the past, I would have worked until midnight and then got up at 5am to get it done for internal review. But, I have been off sick recently due to stress and anxiety and I have to be more strict with myself with taking breaks and establishing boundaries. My line manager isn't involved in this project, but I know would be annoyed at me for working late.

I'm feeling really stressed and anxious about it. I don't know whether to get up early tomorrow morning to do as much as I can before 9am, or whether to somehow start the difficult conversation with the project manager that I need more time?

Because they've given an impossible task to someone who has recently returned from sick leave due to stress without discussing reasonable expectations.

OP surely no one can expect an originally 8 week project to be done in 1 week?

The main focus should be on the original delay and not the fact that you were not able to complete an 8 week project in 1.

If you've worked out what's needed from the client you could send the email requesting further information now and log off. Then log in at normal time tomorrow when they might have already sent some of the info.

or whether to somehow start the difficult conversation with the project manager that I need more time?

Surely the pm already knows the inputs were received late, there is a very high risk of this milestone not being met and has been keeping close, getting regular updates, assessing risk and communicating to stakeholders. That is literally their job.

“Because they've given an impossible task to someone who has recently returned from sick leave due to stress without discussing reasonable expectations.“

But OP said herself that it’s only on reviewing it she sees how much is missing.

What task have they given her?

• complete this in a week no matter what? (wrong of them)
• take over the piece of work and as per any normal working practice, deliver it or feedback that you can’t and make plans to progress it to a realistic timetable (fine)

OP says her line manager wouldn’t expect her to work late on this.

You can’t work til midnight, then be stressed about working til midnight, if nobody asked you to work until midnight!

OP, in the nicest possible way, this is bonkers.

Shut your laptop down.

Set your alarm to give you enough time to send an email that will be waiting for your boss/PM come 9am or your normal start time.

Title the email Project X - urgent status update

Write something along the lines of:

I know Project X was due to go to internal review today. Unfortunately we're not going to make this deadline due to:

1. Project documentation was not received until x which meant we lost y weeks of planned work time
2. On receiving the documentation I have found several pieces of content (or whatever word you'd use) are missing - we're going to have to go back to the client for these, which will lose more time. I've been flagging these as I've gone through the initial review and will be able to share a list by x o'clock.

I think the best thing to do with the review time today is to regroup and replan, then work out the best way to communicate this with the client. Do you want me to put some time in the diary for this, or will you?

Best

THEN GO TO BED!

Given you have stated that some inputs from the client are absent, you therefore cannot complete it irrespective of putting in the overnight shift.

The best ruing is always to escalate these things as early as possible. The best time to escalate is therefore right now. I'd be transparent and honest - client was late delivering, you've picked it up late, you have tried to get it over the line as didn't want to let down the exec tomorrow morning, but it has become clear that it simply won't be a ready as 1) there are docs missing form client, and 2) it would take all night - which since just returning from absence you have been advised not to do (and given 1) it would be incomplete anyway).

You can only pull so many rabbits out of hats - I would add something to say - clearly this isn't a great scenario to be in at 10pm the night before, it would be good to chat through the sequence of events leading to this so we can talk through how we can avoid this misalignment happening in the future.

Send the note then try and get some sleep - it's just work after all, in all seriousness it might seem big and important now but it will just need a quick reforecast and the people will move into the next burning platform

Agree with this! Although I would just send the note now otherwise I would lose sleep over it. Knowing it was already in inboxes would reduce the mental load significantly and stop me waking up at 5am thinking about the wording

I am guessing this is some sort of consulting type role? I manage people like yourself and there is no way I would expect my team members to do those type of hours, especially those on a phased return back to work

As others have said note what you received and when, what is missing and what work you have managed to do

Not your fault and it will be for the account manager/senior manager to relay that back to the client

Do not martyr yourself. I personally would think worse of someone like that than someone who comes to me and explains the problem

Been here many times before. I feel you OP. Few options that work for me

1. Do the 20% that gets you 80% of the way there. So prioritise what to fix
2. Once prioritisesd reduce the quality of the less important stuff. I.e spend less time on that stuff
3. As early as possible tomorrow morning flag to whoever has the power that help is need to be put on this now to get it done
4. Get some sleep. It's a war and you need to be alert and focused to deliver the maximum you can. You can't do that if you're too tired
5. Get up at 6am and give it till 9am. You'll probably get good focus in this time

Remember you are the hero. You came back to mess. Sure maybe you could have flagged up issues earlier. But, you are only human and it sounds like this needed more from more people earlier too. For example, if you've been off what has the PM been doing all this time.

Depending on your industry this might not be something you can put down. But you can put down the self-doubt and the imposter syndrome.

Fuck these people and their impossible ask.

I keep crying. I'm so exhausted from the ups and downs of feeling ok/stronger at work to suddenly feeling like I did before I went off sick. I was signed off from occupational health yesterday and today I'm back to crying over work.

I don't want to get up at 6am to start work. I don't want to send an email at nearly midnight.

OP, you’re overthinking this.

You have only just been brought on board with this project and it was seven weeks behind (which the project manager should be aware of if they’ve been doing their job properly before you were asked to join the project team). You cannot physically do the amount of work required in that time. Drop a short note to the project manager and copy in your own line manager explaining that the documents you’ve received from the client are not in a fit state to be turned around at this short notice and that you are going to need to push back on deadlines.

It is the job of the project manager to build in some contingency around stuff like this, so don’t worry about it for a moment longer. Let them know the situation and they can handle the timeline and the client.

Oh OP. Hope you feel a bit better this morning. It always feels worse in the night.

I think it might be a good idea to have a chat with your manager today, and call this out specifically and say 'look, i really struggle setting boundaries, so i might need your help when deadlines are coming up to check in and just gently push me on if i need more time so i flag early and dont end up in this situation'
Eventually you will find it easier, but right now you've been off sick and you need a bit of extra support and thats okay! And giving your manager a specific practical thing they can do to help will help you.

I have been there and it is shit but you will get through this i promise.

Hope you got some sleep OP. Really I wouldn’t be giving this a moments thought, you are not going to get two months of work done by staying up late or getting up early.

Now if they had been a day or two late, I might be more inclined to stay up and try to meet a deadline, but with them being nearly two months late, I would feel no inclination or pressure to do so whatsoever.

“I don't want to get up at 6am to start work. I don't want to send an email at nearly midnight.”

The don’t! That’s 2 boundaries there.
Decide you start and finish time, and stick to them. You might not find it easy to do, but at least those are very easy to define.

It’s hard to see here whether the fundamental issue here is coming from your company or from within you. It’s hard to imagine that you were expected to catch up 8 weeks in 1, though it’s possible. If you were expected to do that, then leave. No amount of personal boundary setting will help in an environment like that. But if the expectation was that you’d do what you could and then flag the issues and replan - then do just that. You said your line manager wouldn’t want you to work late, so it doesn’t sound like this is just external pressure? There are jobs where you’re expected to firefight and work long hours to rescue things. Maybe a job like that isn’t one where you’ll fit. And if it is - there should be balance. My job is like that - but we’re flexible on quiet days too. Speak to your manager about the expectations - either to reassure yourself, or to resolve to leave.