The Deadline Effect: Inside Elite Organizations That Have Mastered the Ticking Clock

by Christopher Cox

In the tradition of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, a wise and fascinating book that shows us how “we can make deadlines work for us instead of the other way around” (The Wall Street Journal).Perfectionists and procrastinators alike agree—it’s natural to dread a deadline. Whether you are completing a masterpiece or just checking off an overwhelming to-do list, the ticking clock signals despair. Christopher Cox knows the panic of the looming deadline all too well—as a magazine editor, he has spent years overseeing writers and journalists who couldn’t meet a deadline to save their lives. After putting in a few too many late nights in the newsroom, he became determined to learn the secret of managing deadlines. He set off to observe nine different organizations as they approached a high-pressure deadline. Along the way, Cox made an even greater these experts didn’t just meet their big deadlines—they became more focused, productive, and creative in the process. An entertaining blend of “behavioral science, psychological theory, and academic studies with compelling storytelling and descriptive case studies” (Financial Times), The Deadline Effect reveals the time-management strategies these teams used to guarantee success while staying on a restaurant opening for the first time, a ski resort covering an entire mountain in snow, a farm growing enough lilies in time for Easter, and more. Cox explains how to use deadlines to our advantage, the dynamics of teams and customers, and techniques for using deadlines to make better, more effective decisions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Productivity, Business, Audiobook, Psychology, How To

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 6, 2021

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be the most fooled I’ve been by a great sounding guest on a podcast. The structure all sounded really compelling, his field work seemed sensible, linking science to the vignettes. And yet… no.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This whole book could have been a sentence: give yourself an artificial, earlier deadline and plan ahead. There were a lot of stories about how different people have done this, but not really any practical ideas for how to implement it in your own life or any evidence beyond the anecdotal evidence that makes up the book.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of anecdotes about stressful careers that I wouldn’t want to have, not much concrete advice about avoiding procrastination.

[Caleb Liu]

Most people to get this book will be disappointed, and this is really more the fault of Cox's publisher, that and Malcolm Gladwell. People will likely have bought this thinking it is first and foremost an exploration of deadlines - the science of deadlines, drawing on psychology, organisational behaviour, perhaps even philosophy. This book is instead largely a series of nice feature pieces loosely stitched together.

In fairness, Cox is good feature writer. The pieces (largely in individual chapters) are engaging and well written. He's good at finding interesting personalities, and the art of the thumbnail - giving us a sense of the individuals in small snippets and vignettes. He's certainly good at stitching everything together to give us a sense of the group be it a team setting up a restaurant, operating a ski resort, pitching a start up idea, or working at Best Buy (he even got himself hired as a part time salesperson to experience the Black Friday rush) and my personal favourite - a group working on a lily farm who have to get the flowers ready for whenever Easter is every year which is the one time they're sold in massive quantities. This is proper journalistic skill, nothing to be sniffed at.

However, after Gladwell, the bar had been set. These are feature pieces which are very tangentially linked to the science and academic research of deadlines. Cox has read the stuff - he just doesn't really incorporate it deeply into the respective chapters. Yes, there's mention of Dan Ariely's work on deadlines, the classic problem of the planning fallacy, and the power of having a soft deadline with teeth. But it is as if Cox just address this so he can get to what he really cares about - the stories!

In some instances, the ideas are largely inconsequential to the stories. It is fascinating that Best Buy gets through Black Friday not just by planning well ahead but changing the entire incentive structure - sales would be clocked for the entire group not individually. But what does that have to do with being a mission driven monster (the title of the chapter)? Yes, revising and revising and revising is great advice for what to do before you reach a deadline, or the advantage of having a more flexible one, but how do you not turn this into an endless search for perfection that is a key problem for many in terms of meeting any deadline?

Cox is a good writer, and an very good journalist but this book is really for those who loves stories not so much those who love ideas. I'm more of an ideas person ultimately. One thing this book has made clear to me at least is how difficult it is for Gladwell to do what he does.

[L.A. Starks · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Spoiler--book contains a gratuitous political insult. The review contains my reaction to it.

I gave this useful book of nine case studies 4 stars rather than 5 due to the "take-half or more of-your-readers out the book" political commentary on page 107. "the frightening thing launched by the Russians... was Trump." Really? Cox is inflicting THAT on readers? That stale--and repeatedly proven untrue--trope made me doubt the credibility of the rest of what Cox had written. Was that his or his editor's intent? I assume they think it was worth damaging the book's credibility given this age in which overwhelming US political/media gaslighting has been nonstop.

That sentence on page 107 aside... these are great studies of the process of planning, with, for example, implementing "soft deadlines with teeth" from nine disparate organizations who have mastered completing big, complex projects to meet a deadline. Cox outlines their processes (as well as his own in writing the book). A good example is one near the end when he describes his experience working at Best Buy during Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The example of the 621st Contingency Response Wing was also enlightening because here he, and they, describe the calmness of being fully prepared for a "stochastic" (random) crisis deadline, such as providing post-hurricane assistance to Puerto Rico.

Cox's style is efficient, colorful, and not too wordy, as befits an experienced magazine editor.

[A Ter · Rating 1 out of 5]

truly bad

[Roberto Sousa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The introduction is good and should be all the book and the other chapters not only they didn't add anything of value but makes the original concept more confusing.

[Milinda Yount · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love finding a non-fiction book that I can lose myself in. One that is effortless to read but still jammed full with new things to learn. This is one of those non-fiction books that I really didn’t know for sure I would be interested in but end up loving it. I loved the structure of this book. Instead of using the format of long descriptions of the theory behind his points or passages explaining it with short examples, he uses long detailed descriptions of SEVEN completely different businesses or situations and along the way makes points about deadlines. Each of these seven chapters gives an in-depth look at something fairly common but that I had never thought about how they do it – farms that get Easter lilies to market at the right time every year (and how incredibly intensive and long that process is), getting a ski resort ready for a Thanksgiving opening without the benefit of enough naturally occurring snow fall and how Best Buy gets ready and operates a store on Black Friday. The author references several other authors whose work I have enjoyed in the past (Dan Ariely and Charles Duhig and Dan Kahneman) and ties the concept of deadlines together from a behavioral science perspective. I appreciate the early copy from Net Galley and Avid Reader Press and look forward to writing reviews.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This served to confirm the benefits of various academic structures in place in music academia, which is all about preparing little by little for big performances. I thought each chapter was remarkably unexpository in its point, as in I kept waiting for some kind of conclusion or takeaway from each case study, but the author truly left us to draw our own conclusions. That was hard from a lecture kind of format with the audiobook, so I would like to go through a hard copy and transcribe some of the takeaways from the chapters and their illustrations of real-life deadlines in action. There are worthwhile nuggets in here, they're just not packaged very well to be useful to readers.

[Dylan Zhou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of stories (sometimes interesting, sometimes felt unnecessarily detailed), not as much in-depth analysis or discussion of the Deadline Effect as I would have liked, although there are a couple insightful moments here and there.

[AJ Conroy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feels like a rough draft.

[Lisa Christensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting anecdotes, but overall I just craved a lot more richness, a lot more advice. The message felt like “set an aggressive deadline.” Yep. Got it. And then? Disappointing me for me

[Elizabeth]

As seen in the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was received as an ARC from Simon & Schuster - Avid Reader Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book really opened my eyes at not only the significance of deadlines but the stress that they bring and I appreciate the stories and background Christopher Cox shared throughout the book about how important it is to prioritize and not overwhelm yourself because of the fact that deadlines alone are so stressful and overwhelming. Learning about Christopher's background as well throughout the book was really enjoyable and as a Librarian, I appreciate when authors share personal experiences and open themselves up to the reader in which they know them like he was their closest friend. I also recognized a lot of the people Cox mentions in the book especially Jean Georges Van Grecten whom I am very familiar with being a foodie and a fan of Top Chef. I think a lot of people will learn from the Deadline Effect and I know it will do very well at our library.

We will consider adding this title to our Business collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

[Rob Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book, and I liked some of the individual pieces, but as a whole, it was not compelling and it left me frustrated. The author used his experience managing deadlines as an editor at GQ Magazine to embark on a study of deadlines and how they can be useful in managing big projects. Each chapter features his field reporting on one or two exemplar organizations, and if I read only one chapter at a time as a long form magazine article, I would have found it somewhat enjoyable. As a series of stories loosely connected by their pursuit of a deadline, it was interesting if somewhat rambling, but as a book promising "How to...", it failed to extract very little of value. What research he quoted was anecdotal and could be found with a basic web search, and he seems to have missed completely an entire industry devoted to managing projects and deadlines, with a massive and quite formal Body of Knowledge.

If the premise of this book caught your eye, I would instead steer you to Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto, a book that exceeded my expectations and delivers on the promise of this book far more effectively.

[George Tavernor · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're expecting a step by step guide on how to be better at deadlines, this isn't the book for you. This is a book with incredibly well researched and written case studies that are genuinely fascinating to read about in the point of view of Cox being a part of these companies. It delves deep into the different ways you can deal with deadlines and applies each technique well with each business whilst also keeping it engaging and easy to follow.

[Rohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic idea presented as a set of stories, some stronger than others. The final chapter on the US Air Force works as a standalone article, and probably gives you all you need. Would love to see a revised edition of this that went all-in as a self-help book.

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very interesting! The title makes it sound like a boring self help type book, but it’s full of fascinating case studies. Full review coming for Shelf Awareness.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was more about the case studies then about overcoming procrastination.

[Gavin Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book fails to provide any insight about deadlines. Instead, it rambles on about various industries with no real substance or direction.

[Claire Nickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stories, but very little advice. Not what I expected, but I still enjoyed it.

[Siddhant Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we look at non-fiction books, they usually tend to be preachy, but this one moves almost like a case study, rather than a book that tells you what works and what doesn’t. Taking the examples of some seemingly unrelated industries and setups, Christopher goes on to show how deadlines can be an effective tool to extract the best in the people and processes. I loved how the book is clearly divided into sections, each one talking about a separate case, and how deadlines were managed in that scenario. Another aspect I liked was that Christopher uses primary data and puts himself in the scenarios to experience the impact of the strategies and that shows that the concept he is talking about is easy to learn and implement. As a person who has focused on project management for specialization, I found out that the concepts he has given are easy to implement, and personally, I feel that I did take away some points which I would love to implement in my workplace.

Christopher’s writing is gripping and keeps the reader glued to the page, and he has a knack of telling a story so as to keep a person hooked to what he is saying. The research for the book is quite detailed and as we journey through the examples, we see that each of them have been researched, experienced, and then written about, and there are extremes to what Christopher has gone to get his content. The last chapter felt a bit rushed to me, and I would have loved a bit more of fluidity in that, but overall, it is good.

This is a book I would highly recommend to people who work on things that usually have close deadlines, and more specifically to people who are looking to build careers in Project Management or Consulting, for this gives an interesting peek into what a person is getting into when you are put into a high-pressure situation.

[Scott DeAngelis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a brutal read. For a guy writing an entire book about the importance of deadlines, it sure did seem like he was running behind schedule turning this one in. It reminded me of the adderall-fueled rambling incoherence that many a college student has slapped together and passed off as a term paper the night before it’s due.

It even feels incomplete when it abruptly ends a shade over 200 pages in. Maybe next time the author can skip the pandering political rhetoric and galavanting on the company dime, and instead invest the time to craft a narrative supporting the ideas they’re looking to convey to the audience.

After a stretch of 3-4 chapters in a row that were figuratively held together by duct tape and bubble gum, I finished this book out of sheer curiosity to see if any aspect of the message could be salvaged, to no avail.

Here’s what I’ll always remember about this book:
In Stephen King’s memoir- On Writing- he discusses the moment when you realize you’re ready to begin writing yourself, which is when you read something so bad you have the audacity to believe you could write something better.

Thanks Chris!

[Pete Pardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Deadline Effect: How to Work Like It's the Last Minute—Before the Last Minute by Christopher Cox is thought provoking, intelligent and a fun read. He deep dives into many different fields as he uncovers the effects that a deadline has on work, life and projects. The amount of intense research is mind numbing- he spent months working beside the people he highlights in each segment of the book, all while making his point that deadlines are important. He actually is on the slopes while the resorts get ready for their busy season, at Best Buy working retail on Black Friday, in the kitchen on opening night of a fancy restaurant, and so much more. Well written, well explained and important for those that need proof that a deadline is important to winning. Read this one tonight, but not all in one night, plan it and execute, set a deadline to finish it, ect, ect. Enjoy the read!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine.

The author tells us right in the intro that this book is a collection of stories about the techniques that large organizations use to meet deadlines. But most people don't read the intro. And anyway, the impression the book cover gives us is that it's going to break down these techniques into methods that are easy for the average person to apply to our everyday deadlines.

It is not that kind of book.

I enjoyed the book for what it was. The stories themselves are well-written, interesting, and engaging. I have nothing bad to say about the book as it is. Just know what you're reading before you start: a collection of vignettes about organizations and businesses that all happen to have deadlines to meet. And also, know what it's not: a self-help book.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Good stories, well-written, but the “how to” could be expressed in a couple of bullet points, and there’s no real explanation of how to actually execute. “Set early deadlines!” Okay then. How early? How many? Sure, it’ll vary from person to person, organization to organization, situation to situation, but where are the details and the practical advice? What’s going to work for Best Buy or the Air Force are probably not what will work for me. So … I enjoyed the read from a storytelling perspective, but other than the vague and pretty simple concept of setting advance deadlines, I didn’t get much from this.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to an interview with Christopher Cox on this topic, which was interesting and so downloaded his book in audiobook form via our library. Ugh. I wondered how the author would make a full book out of such slim pickings, and the answer is he chose to weave slim pickings into a larger body of unrelated material. The first section of the book focuses on the restaurants of Jean-Georges Vongerichten. nothing against this restaurant owner! But that’s not why downloaded this book. Disappointing. Not going to hang through to the end for the diamonds in the rough.

[Lilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written and easy to ready, interesting assortment of anecdotes from different fields to demonstrate key points. I feel like the author is someone who doesn’t struggle to meet self-imposed deadlines… I was hoping to learn how to use the deadline effect in my personal life as someone who thrives under external deadlines but has little motivation to adhere to self-imposed deadlines. Also wish the author had been clearer about the actionable takeaways from his discussed anecdotes/behavioral research. He did a good job of explaining behavioral research concepts in accessible terms.

[Dalton Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book but I would consider it more of a textbook style. Cox does a great job of providing different perspectives and showing how multi million dollar organizations pull off their deadlines.

Overall I would say this book is more of a case study. I imagine this book being assigned in a business class to show the importance of planning ahead. Cox ultimately leaves it up to the reader. He tells the story of these businesses, but relies on that to be the advice.

[Alexander Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to admit it. My review is biased. I got this audiobook for free on my Libby app. It was a short listen. I enjoy the narrator's work.

The book promises to teach you how to harness deadlines to be more productive.

It actually delivers a number of case studies that are fascinating, but they sometimes miss the mark.

I still enjoyed the work. It was like a longer GQ article with some interesting usable non-fiction and scientific analysis. Very professional.