how do i make a veteran meet deadline without being a jerk?

[tapintoamerica]

Can you talk to your predecessor in the job? Get his/her experiences with this guy. If your predecessor lost a power struggle with this veteran, then you know you have to tread lightly. If there was no such event, sit the veteran down and tell him you've taken the blame for previous deadline failures but you can't cover for him indefinitely. Ask him to remember what he felt when he was in the early stages of his job. (Eager to impress, afraid of rebuke from above.)

 

[BB Bobcat]

I still want to know how he's been doing the job for 20 years if he's always missing deadlines.

 

[shotglass]

Tell him that the deadline is 30 minutes before you absolutely have to have it.

Another good ploy that usually works.

This is something that works and sometimes has to be implemented, whether writers like it or not. It beats not making deadline.

The thing about "just find a house ad" or "put a feature story in there"? Hey, I know deadline is deadline, and that's probably what would be done. But again, I think some people might be underestimating that they really, uh, want that game in the paper.

There's a reason why a staffer was sent to cover it. There will be a shirtload of angry phone calls the next day if Bumfork High's latest win isn't mentioned in the paper. Does everyone miss that in the rush to deadline?

 

[apeman33]

Tell him that the deadline is 30 minutes before you absolutely have to have it.

I worked at a place where one Friday prep football night the News Editor told us our deadlines for off the floor. We busted ass and just missed by a couple of minutes. I went up to him and said, sorry, we had a couple of problem, late games, but we just missed by less than five minutes. We did all we could.
He said, "Oh, no problem. Our deadlines are actually later than I told you, but I didn't think you guys could make it, so I told you an earlier time."
He came very near to having my fist buried in his grille. But I stepped back and told him in a very loud voice, "That was absolute bullshirt. I resent being treated like children. Tell us the forking deadlines, the real forking deadlines, and we will do everything in our power to hit them."
He had no response. Just kinda mumbled "OK" and walked away.

You proved the editor's point by missing deadline.

He proved nothing because it was a fake deadline. Neither side knows if they would have made the real dealine.

 

[apeman33]

Tell him that the deadline is 30 minutes before you absolutely have to have it.

Another good ploy that usually works.

This is something that works and sometimes has to be implemented, whether writers like it or not. It beats not making deadline.

The thing about "just find a house ad" or "put a feature story in there"? Hey, I know deadline is deadline, and that's probably what would be done. But again, I think some people might be underestimating that they really, uh, want that game in the paper.

There's a reason why a staffer was sent to cover it. There will be a shirtload of angry phone calls the next day if Bumfork High's latest win isn't mentioned in the paper. Does everyone miss that in the rush to deadline?

It comes down to this: Who would you rather take the heat from?

* The publisher or ME who reams you for missing deadline?

* The parents who didn't see the game in the paper?

No-win situation.

 

[shotglass]

There's a worse situation. Getting reamed by the parents AND getting reamed by the publisher or ME who expects to see the game story in the paper.

It's reasons like this that make the faux deadline an allowable tool. Making deadline takes priority over someone getting their feelings bruised.

 

[nmmetsfan]

Nah, don't give the readers what they want. That makes too much sense.

 

[apeman33]

There's a worse situation. Getting reamed by the parents AND getting reamed by the publisher or ME who expects to see the game story in the paper.

True. Still no-win. We've been lucky to have a publisher who's been quite calm during our transition from afternoon to mornings. We've improved significantly in the last four months (We transitioned in March). Internet outages (The press is 20 miles away) have created more problems with deadline than the layout or stories themselves.

 

[shotglass]

See, we have another complicator -- "page slotting."

We have 20 pages on a typical weeknight. Only four of those can be dumped in the final half-hour. We have to dump pages throughout the evening.

So where we have problems is when there's a page slotted for, say, 9 p.m., because it has a gamer for a day game. And the writer gets back from the game and takes three hours to get you the story. THEN we have a problem.

 

[buckweaver]

See, we have another complicator -- "page slotting."

We have 20 pages on a typical weeknight. Only four of those can be dumped in the final half-hour. We have to dump pages throughout the evening.

So where we have problems is when there's a page slotted for, say, 9 p.m., because it has a gamer for a day game. And the writer gets back from the game and takes three hours to get you the story. THEN we have a problem.

Ahh, yes. Another problematic factor. We've had the same situation, at the papers I've been at.

 

[Rudy Petross]

I had this problem in my short stint as a sports editor. I told him "Hey, Hemingway, it doesn't have to rhyme, let's go." He then told me "Hey, back off, I don't work well under pressure." I almost peed myself laughing. Oh yeah, I also told him to get the ^$#* out of the newsroom. I had a very nurturing management style.

 

[captzulu]

Back when I was still in the biz as a sports copy editor/designer, I basically ran across two kinds of writers in terms of meeting deadline -- those who know that the process is far from over when they hit "send", and thus almost always file early enough to give you reasonable time to work with the story; and those who, for whatever reason, almost always file 10-20 minutes after the deadline they are given. For the first group, I have no problem telling them the real deadline because I know they'll meet it. For the latter group, I cringe whenever I hear somebody else on the desk tell them the absolute latest time we need the story (which for a night game is about 15 minutes before we send pages). I give people the benefit of the doubt more often than most would, but if someone shows me consistently that they can't make deadline, I would definitely tell them an earlier file time (within reason) if it means getting their stuff in on time.