Is Friday realistic? What’s a realistic timeline? — The deadline is open to discussion before it is set.
Heads-up: this is going to slip. — A warning that the date will be missed, given before it is missed.
Can I get an extension? — A request for more time.
By end of day. By close of business Friday. — The deadline, stated to the hour.
Down to the wire. At the eleventh hour. Pull an all-nighter. — The work is finished at the last moment.
Crunch time – a critical moment or period (as near the end of a game or a deadline) when decisive action is needed. First known use: 1976. Example: The team had trained well, but at crunch time they just couldn’t perform.
In the nick of time – at the right or vital moment, usually at the last possible moment. The word nick refers to notches made in tally sticks that were used for measurement or score-keeping. First known use: Arthur Day’s Festivals in 1615. Example: The fire engines arrived in the nick of time.
Time is money – time is worth money. Similar maxims have been found as far back as 430 B.C. in ancient Greece, however this particular wording is attributed to Benjamin Franklin in his essay Advice to a Young Tradesman.
Time is of the essence – a phrase which, when used in American contracts, indicates that any delay, reasonable or not, will be grounds for cancelling the agreement.
Too little, too late – the action came too late, and/or was too limited, to be effective. The phrase originated in the U.S. in 1935, when historian Allan Nevins wrote in the May 1935 issue of Current History, “The former allies have blundered in the past by offering Germany too little, and offering that too late.”
The word deadline was first used during the American Civil War to describe a line which, if a prisoner crossed it, could result in the prisoner’s death. Even though most deadlines today won’t end in murder, Americans still feel that correlation when talking about a deadline, and they tend to treat it like a life-or-death matter.
Deadline: a line drawn within or around a prison that a prisoner passes at the risk of being shot; a date or time before which something must be done; the time after which copy is not accepted for a particular issue of a publication. First known use was in 1864.
Examples: She worked on her composition right up until the deadline. We had to hurry to meet the deadline. The project was completed a week past its deadline. The deadline for submitting college applications is April 19th. They’re working under a deadline.
Deadlines and recovery from missed deadlines are so important to Americans that many job interviewers specifically ask applicants to describe a time that they missed a deadline and how they recovered from it. If you type missed deadline into Google, you’re immediately bombarded with self-help websites describing how to recover from a missed deadline.
In 2013, the Prince George’s County school system lost $1.4 million of state funds when it failed to approve school construction contracts within their two year deadline. Although the school district was very close to approving these contracts, no extension was given, and the money had to be returned.
First-mover advantage is gained by the first significant player in a market segment who gains control of resources that other participants in the market cannot match. Amazon had a first mover advantage over Barnes & Noble. Amazon maintained its advantage by partnering with Borders and extending product offerings into apparel, electronics, toys and housewares.
Rarely is a project, large or small, completed within schedule, within budget and meeting fully, much less exceeding, the specifications of the customer. The business world is seldom that simple. In the American business context quality is more likely to be sacrificed than schedule or budget. Americans expect products and services on-time, and at the price they agreed to. Quality – in the sense of completeness – can be made up for with extra effort.
When it comes to that magic triangle – schedule, budget, quality – the first two usually trump the third, in the U.S.
Trump. A card of a suit any of whose cards will win over a card that is not of this suit —called also trump card; a decisive overriding factor or final resource.