Is there any way to push back against really ridiculous deadlines when high ranking SES have expectations?
Looking for advice.
I am known to be fast and pretty good at what I do at work. This has lead to me becoming someone that gets randomly plopped onto a project in my division for a short stint to fix major fuck ups or employ my skills that the team in question maybe doesn’t have.
I don’t mind it in principle, but it keeps leading to deadlines that are extremely difficult to meet.
For example, not too long ago I got given to a team for a week to write a paper. It was conveyed to me as a 5 day task, but very quickly I realised it would take at least 3 weeks for any normal person and really should be done that period.
I was told the SES expected it within 4 days and to basically stfu and get it done.
These kind of expectations are making me extremely tired and also stressed. Not to mention, my day job changes constantly because I never know where I’m going to be teleported to next week to assist.
I don’t know how to successfully challenge these deadline expectations *when* there is SES involvement/hard deadlines in their head.
Posted Apr 29, 2026, 7:06 AM UTC