Physically running out of time. Somewhat of a rant.

What do you guys do when you are working on projects, and you physically run out of time and cannot complete everything asked of you? I am not talking about getting not enough time to leave the office at 8pm and still watch whatever BS TV show people watch. I am talking about literally not sleeping for multiple days at a time, doing nothing but work, and still not getting everything done. This has never happened to me before but did this past weekend.

I was working on a deal/investment where we literally had to decide whether to do the deal (from intro and first receiving materials to close) within this a few days. The investment was of very significant size. My superiors knew I was working on this, and I made it clear that I would not have time for anything else. I did not sleep for two days (in addition to not having gotten more than 5 hours sleep/night the past two weeks). Despite this, they kept sending small requests. Can you just do x or just do a little y... I didn't do x or y, and let them know I couldn't.

I got chewed out today for not getting this stuff done but fired back pretty hard. Overall the situation was not ideal, but I really can't think of anything I could have done differently. The requests were not frivolous but paled in comparison to having the right analysis and work done on the larger deal.

I guess I am pretty pissed right now. I did my few years of banking, 100 hour weeks, etc. but this was something completely different.

8 Comments
 

I'm not sure how it works at a hedge fund so I might be coming from left field on this one but I think it would have been ideal to let your superiors know earlier that you needed more manpower on the analysis or it wouldn't be done it time. It's clear there was some disconnect between what was expected of you and what you were able to complete. Giving your superiors that heads up not only gives them time to make other arrangements but also covers your ass if they do nothing about it and you don't end up meeting the deadline.

 
TopChedder

I'm not sure how it works at a hedge fund so I might be coming from left field on this one but I think it would have been ideal to let your superiors know earlier that you needed more manpower on the analysis or it wouldn't be done it time. It's clear there was some disconnect between what was expected of you and what you were able to complete. Giving your superiors that heads up not only gives them time to make other arrangements but also covers your ass if they do nothing about it and you don't end up meeting the deadline.

This sums it up pretty well.

"I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature."
 

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