Work gripe - getting chased before a deadline

[Mummy08m]

This isn't a real problem just a little gripe.

I'm a teacher and our report deadlines are usually at 10.30am on a Tuesday.

I always get them in on time. I genuinely can't remember ever being late with them, certainly not in the last 4 years at least, if ever. I have several classes and I pace myself so that I do some on the weekend, some on the Monday, and the last few on the Tuesday morning before 10.30am. I can't do them much earlier, usually, because I need to include up to date info like the latest homework I've marked or whatever.

However, the data manager at my school sends out these chasing emails before the deadline! Today I get this at 8.50am:

Dear Mummy08m,
Please can I politely remind you that grades and comments are required by 10.30am today. We have noticed comments missing for [specific one of my classes]. If you are in the process of entering these comments [er, yes, obviously I am] please kindly ignore this message.
If you are not going to meet the deadline please kindly let me know when you'll complete them by.
[Data manager's signature]

Aibu for being made grumpy about this? Every single time! I always get them in by 10.30am! Sometimes I'm literally clicking submit at 10.25am, but it always gets done.

If you need them in by 8.50am, tell me the deadline is 8.50am. Don't tell me the deadline is 10.30am and then nag me for not getting them in by 8.50am!

I'm going to "kindly ignore this message", obviously. But I'm grumpy. Aibu for being grumpy?!

I better go finish them off now instead of ranting on mumsnet lol. But still. So grumpy.

good result all round including cup of tea from DH.

Why not ask HOD what they would say if you always submitted your reports late?

I would be frustrated by this. It doesn’t feel the same as sending a mass email the day before reminding everyone that the deadline is approaching.

I have similar at work in that we have a deadline to complete a task within 24hrs of appointments. I sometimes get nagged to complete this when it’s only been 12hrs, 8 of which I’ve been asleep because I sometimes work evenings. Bloody annoying!

Is it a generic email or are you the only addressee on the chaser you receive? The former is fine, the latter is absolutely not if you’ve never missed the deadline. Also her wording just sounds arsey. There is a way to communicate about an upcoming deadline, if you’re justifiably concerned about meeting it, without getting backs up.

It's personal to me, with my name and the name of my class that I had about 5 reports left on.

Of course it's probably a copy and paste jobbie.

I do understand she's just doing her job. She used to chase at 9.30 (an hour before the deadline) so I've been aiming for 9.30 these last couple of years - although (grump grump) I don't see why I should have to. But 8.50 this time!

The problem with this is you end up with two choices:

1. You set the deadline early enough so that you don't chase before the deadline and have time enough after the deadline to chase and still not miss your own deadline. If the timeline is long that can work okay, but otherwise you just end up screwing over everyone you're asking to do work for you by giving them less time than they'd otherwise have to complete it.

Or

1. You try and be as accomodating as possible and give everyone as much time as possible to complete the actual work. But you then really really need people to have submitted on time. So then the ones you are still waiting on you probably have to remind before the deadline because you cannot afford a missed deadline. That pisses off the ones who are working through it and planning to respond before hand.

2. You try and be as accomodating as possible and give everyone as much time as possible to complete the actual work. But you then really really need people to have submitted on time. So then the ones you are still waiting on you probably have to remind before the deadline because you cannot afford a missed deadline. That pisses off the ones who are working through it and planning to respond before hand.

Then rather than being as accommodating as possible, you are being more accommodating than is possible, and mismanaging your own and other people’s time. Setting deadlines that allow for contingencies isn’t screwing people over, it’s basic good time management. OP has a track record of delivering on this deadline, consistently chasing her before it but not changing it is poor management on the part of the data manager.

@Mummy08m I thought this was going to be about teaching before I opened the thread 😂. I once got interrupted in the middle of a lesson by the assistant head to ask (outloud in front of all the pupils) when I was doing my reports - the deadline wasnt until the next day.

Next time you have the deadline just ask the data manager "is that the actual deadline or do you actually need it 2 hours earlier than that to give you time to do things after I have submitted"?

I can see why it is irritating, but it will be for the benefit of those who are more disorganised and do need the reminder. Don’t take it personally, it’s not intended to suggest you wouldn't manage on your own!

I’d give feedback to her manager. She’s really excellent at her job, on top of all the deadlines (assuming she is). Next level would be for her to differentiate deadlines - so earlier reminders to those who have missed them consistently, none to those who haven’t.

Not only to avoid annoying you, but because it saves her time for chasing the persistent offenders (of whom there will be some). She should probably be giving them earlier deadlines, if theyr’e really bad - I give longer for people I know are reliable and make them sooner for people I know I’ll have to chase, so that it doesn’t create problems for me.

I hate sending reminders, I believe people (like you and I) should remember the deadline and send the work without a reminder.

But - whenever I don’t send them, I NEVER get the work sent. It pisses me off that I have to wrangle with how to write non-confrontational’ please remember to do your job emails.

The email isn’t aimed at you OP, it’s for all your colleagues that do need the nudge.

If you've had an email specifically to you, as you say, then I definitely would let her know that it's normal for you to be finalising the updates on Tuesday morning, but that you always ensure its complete by 10.30.

99% of emails are a huge drain on time.

If we got rid of all the 'support' staff think of how much actual work we'd be able to do.

Why wouldn’t you just talk to the woman directly 3Tunes? Why go over her head to her manager?

If it’s niggling OP that much then fair enough to speak to the person sending the emails and saying “do you mind taking me off your reminder email list? I never forget or miss the deadline but I almost always finish my reports off at 9:30am.” Why not just have a conversation and take it from there?

If you got rid of all of the support staff the school would grind to a halt pretty quickly.

Oh please - the OP sounds competent and as if she has a system that has worked so far.

This is not an email designed for people like you. It's designed for people like me who need an on the day reminder. Usually this is down to having multiple deadlines that I need to juggle but ultimately its my personality type. This will be the prompt I need to get it done.
I agree it could be worded better as 'kindly remind' in anything gets my back up but I would just carry on as you are and just ignore it. If it's a routine weekly email I go as far as saying just delete without reading.

Wow. I'd love to see teachers manage that. 😆

I'm with you.
Your boss is highly unprofessional. Her email is insulting, patronising and unnecessary.
If there was an ongoing problem then it should not be tackled by your boss at the last minute with a cut and paste email. Very poor leadership.

If we got rid of all the 'support' staff think of how much actual work we'd be able to do.

What an arrogant statement! As an ex-teacher, I couldn’t have done my job without the support staff. They were amazing!

In my new role, I still couldn’t do my job half as effectively if we didn’t have support staff. Yes, I may get frustrated sometimes but the positives massively outweigh the negatives.

I think they’re trying to help the process along, but reminding people to basically just do their job is super irritating, and the repeated use of kindly would also get on my tits.

She’s not OP’s boss. Data management sounds like an administrative function, not a leadership or people management one. Which does add a layer of irritation to arsey premature chasers.

Yes, but she's working to the boss' deadline.

But it's Ok, Donut is going to collate the reports and get them out next year.

@IfYouDontAsk I was assuming a power imbalance that might make it too much of a big thing to feed back directly, but I’ve not worked in schools, maybe it would be ok? IME people often prefer feedback from their line manager as part of a process rather than unsolicited, but that does assume their line manager is doing what they should on performance and development.

I hate this.
If I've missed a deadline, fair enough - pull me up on it and I will take responsibility.

If I haven't then I don't need reminders (gentle or kind or any other sort).

It's just clutter. If I had form for missing deadlines then maybe I'd appreciate a reminder, especially if missing it impacts someone else's work.