| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you ever deliver finished work to the client early? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you ever deliver finished work to the client early?".
View the poll results »
| | | | Jan Truper 
Germany
Local time: 22:43
Member (2016)
English to German
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I am known to deliver quite often ahead of time and I have found that this gives me an excellent argument when I need to negotiate a new deadline.
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I do a lot of small jobs, and deadlines are usually short, even if they are not tight! So proportionally, two hours can be considered early.
I am a night owl, so if the deadline is before 10 am, I prefer to deliver the night before, to be sure I manage it. 
When I have several jobs in the in-tray, I try to get the small, less complicated jobs out of the way, so that I can concentrate on a larger one, an... See more I do a lot of small jobs, and deadlines are usually short, even if they are not tight! So proportionally, two hours can be considered early.
I am a night owl, so if the deadline is before 10 am, I prefer to deliver the night before, to be sure I manage it.
When I have several jobs in the in-tray, I try to get the small, less complicated jobs out of the way, so that I can concentrate on a larger one, and be sure I do not miss a deadline. ▲ Collapse
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 22:43
Member (2009)
English to German
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| Yoana Ivanova
Estonia
Local time: 23:43
English to Bulgarian
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I deliver as soon as I'm ready, which is often earlier than the given deadline.
Unless it's a rush project, where I have to make use of every minute. Then I just deliver on time.
| | | | Lena Nemeth
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:43
Polish to English
| Thanks for the responses | Mar 11, 2019 |
Thank you all for taking the time to discuss this little question!
When I was studying for my Master's degree in Translation, the lecturer always told us to never deliver jobs early because if there is an error with them, the client might think you were careless or rushed through the job. My real-life experience has shown me, however, that clients are usually quite grateful to receive jobs early, so I usually deliver once I've reviewed/edited the job about twice -- if I have the time. It ... See more Thank you all for taking the time to discuss this little question!
When I was studying for my Master's degree in Translation, the lecturer always told us to never deliver jobs early because if there is an error with them, the client might think you were careless or rushed through the job. My real-life experience has shown me, however, that clients are usually quite grateful to receive jobs early, so I usually deliver once I've reviewed/edited the job about twice -- if I have the time. It seems like most everyone who took part in this poll agrees, so thank you for your insight! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Julio Madrid
Mexico
Local time: 13:43
Member (2018)
English to Spanish
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Always before the deadline, even if it means 2-3 hours before. For big projects where I know I'll make it just on time, I negotiate an extra day so I can always deliver ahead of time. As Lena, I was once adviced by a former PM to never deliver before the deadline for that usually has a negative impact on how agencies "look at you", according to her, but my experience has been quite the opposite, only positive outcomes.
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I always deliver late. It's important to show them who's boss.
| | | | | What is early? | Mar 11, 2019 |
On time, means by the deadline, so I suppose that early means before the deadline. "By the deadline" is obviously also "before the deadline", but I get the gist.
I hate delivering late and it can happen, although it shouldn't. "Late" means after the deadline and, quite honestly, sometimes delivering more than 10 minutes after a deadline can put someone else's work plans out of synch. A deadline can be "by Friday" but it can also be "by 10h00 on Friday". You have to be careful with "... See more On time, means by the deadline, so I suppose that early means before the deadline. "By the deadline" is obviously also "before the deadline", but I get the gist.
I hate delivering late and it can happen, although it shouldn't. "Late" means after the deadline and, quite honestly, sometimes delivering more than 10 minutes after a deadline can put someone else's work plans out of synch. A deadline can be "by Friday" but it can also be "by 10h00 on Friday". You have to be careful with "by, before, on" and how the client is meaning those terms to be read.
I recently received some stuff to proofread that came in a day late. I was not going to allow a domino effect to force me into delivering late for other clients, so the one-day late, meant that the late-delivering client got their work three days late. Other proofreading work came in at the end of Friday, around 18h. As I had a couple of queries, I worked on them on Friday evening, but as the translator did not work over the weekends, I was unable to clear up those points before Monday. So so once again, I delivered late. In both cases, the work was of very good quality, but late reception meant that I delivered the proofread texts late and it messed up my organisation too. It's a shame, but it has meant that I have declined further proofreading jobs from this client as I don't want to have my work schedule messed up. If I can't rely on other people to deliver on time, no way are my other clients going to suffer as a result; it's not their fault. Why should I work out of normal hours through someone else's fault? If I decided to work at night or over the weekend, that's my business. If I am forced into it through late-delivering clients, that a different matter and I don't go along with it.
I take the point on delivering too early, particularly if modifications are necessary. It's often a good idea to finish at the end of a day and to re-read through the next day before delivering a piece of work. None of my clients would appreciate my delivering late. In my experience, it does indeed show them who's boss and it tends to be the client in that case, who may well go elsewhere if he can't rely on me to deliver on time.
[Edited at 2019-03-11 10:44 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Yes. That's my preferred method.
| | | | Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 22:43
English to German
I deliver whenever I'm done, to get stuff off my desk and out of my squirrelbrain. If I cared what other people think about me, surely I could find other areas to tweak first.
I always negotiate deadlines "for the morning of (date)" because my brain doesn't even start cracking nuts before 4PM. So for many clients, those are early deadlines in themselves, because they had a later time of day in mind.
Chris S, stop hanging out with those construction workers ... See more
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 22:43
Spanish to English
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I usually try to set a deadline that I am able to stick to despite having other jobs on the go. So, if an agency or client asks me for my deadline, I always give myself plenty of leeway. For example, I might tell them I need ten working days to do the job, and deliver it in one or two. The problem is explaining to them why I am doing this (i.e., not to get my fingers burned again), although the more intelligent ones seem to have no problem grasping my modus operandi.
On the other ha... See more I usually try to set a deadline that I am able to stick to despite having other jobs on the go. So, if an agency or client asks me for my deadline, I always give myself plenty of leeway. For example, I might tell them I need ten working days to do the job, and deliver it in one or two. The problem is explaining to them why I am doing this (i.e., not to get my fingers burned again), although the more intelligent ones seem to have no problem grasping my modus operandi.
On the other hand, if it is the client that stipulates the deadline, and I accept the job, I understand that I have to deliver on time, but am less likely to deliver early in those situations.
[Edited at 2019-03-11 11:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 22:43
French to English
At the agency, we found that delivering earlier meant that the client would then require us to always deliver as quickly.
As a freelancer, I'm finding that clients mostly respect my time and I'm able to deliver ahead of most deadlines.
Right now I have a 350-worder that's due by 24 March, but I'll probably finish it tomorrow, I'd rather get it over and done with or I'd be frightened of forgetting about it
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I never do. Always on time, yes, but not early. In any case, agency deadlines don't really give much leeway. But delivering early seems to be a way of encouraging clients to tighten deadlines, or to say "You did it in three hours last time... why not this time?" Frankly it seems unnecessary. But each to their own!
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