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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Being on Time

My dad always stressed to me the importance of being on time.  It is unfair and rude to others to consistently be late to meetings, appointments, and get togethers.  There is a good article by Tim Sanders over on his website entitled "Early Is The New On-Time".

In the article Tim's says -  (Click here for link to full article)

"Promise made, promise kept - That's a principle I hold dear. 
This was taught to me early in life by my grandmom, who raised me.  She believed that we should keep our promises for ourselves (self-image) as well as for others (politeness, reputation).  In her day, it was a basic measure of integrity, whether you are keeping a promise as an individual, a city or even a nation.
Unfortunately, when it comes to being on time or on schedule, we live in a nation of tardies.  This is profoundly true in the technology and creative community.
When I worked at Yahoo, the parking garage was almost empty until around 9:30, then it gradually filled up - and stayed full well past 6pm.  Meetings never started on time, as most participants filed in fashionably late.  When seasoned execs joined the company (after the dotcom bust), they were horrified by this cultural practice...wondering how people could get-stuff-done in such a slack environment. 
Worse, the advent of the mobile phone has enabled anyone to run late, so long as they call (or text) to say they are "stuck in traffic/meeting/etc."  In the old days, you didn't like to be late because of the stress of the unknown, but now that your manager can say, "It's OK, take your time," then why run on time? 
This mentality has bled into enterprise level tardiness: Product launches and project implementations that run late or are re-scheduled at the first sign of complication.  Over the last decade, it's culminated into a late-running nation of professionals that can't be depended on to be on time."

3 comments:

* said...

I completely agree. Keeping your word is fundamental to human decency. I don't want to work with, for, or around a person that doesn't keep their word. You cannot call yourself a professional without keeping your word, no matter how many titles you add to your name. Nothing has changed since his grandmom, for self-image and basic integrity, keep your word.

And yes, if you don't keep word, everyone notices and marks you as another bag of wind with no significance.

Anonymous said...

Being a few minutes late is not "breaking your word" and does not invalidate a person. Sheesh...bunch of condescending dbags.

ProjectSteps said...

"Cosistently late" was what I said. Thanks for the terse comment.