Best Practices in Setting Expectations?

This is something I struggle with everyday. I have a bad habit of overestimating how much I can do and like to go 110% with projects. Often, being comprehensive end up backfiring as they often open up for more questions than answers. Then add some emergency ad-hoc requests from people and the whole timeline goes to shit.

Curious what the best practices are in setting expectations and 80/20-ing their work load.

5 Comments
 

underpromise overdeliver we'd really need more details about your specific situation to say anything more. If you wanna get kind of philosophical on this, stuff like this often stems from an intrinsic lack of confidence and self-worth. You're too eager to please. Are you good at your work? Do you put in the effort? Then just keep doing that and chill on all the talk you think's gonna make people happy.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

Thanks GoldenCinderblock.

More specifically, if you think back to your junior analyst days, how did you balance the vast inflow of requests and the ever changing deadlines of projects?

A lot of my Fund's trades/projects/research timelines gets either pushed, fast tracked, suddenly prioritized, or de-prioritized. But these conversations are almost always back channeled by senior management with limited communication to the junior level.

Now imagine 20 of these going on at the same time of various importance. When one gets fast tracked, the rest are directly impacted. So then some of the deliverables comes down to 80/20-ing and completion over quality - but if the fast tracked timeline was communicated in a timely manner, then the whole process would have been more organized and the product quality better. The mediocre result then becomes a reflection on you.

Anyways, I ramble. Wondering if you have ever been in this situation and how you dealt with it without it reflecting badly on you.

 
Most Helpful

I don't work in an office and didn't give a shit when I did, so I can't comment on that. Two points: -If to management, everything is a priority, I'd say something along the lines of, 'I want to make sure that I'm spending my time doing what's best for the organization. Which of my current tasks/activities should I de-prioritize in order to prioritize XYZ?' It's respectful and illustrates that your time is finite and you have shit to do already, which management forgets easily. -Like I said, if you're good at your job and you know you're putting in the effort over the period of time you've agreed to, then just try not to worry about it. People are gonna hustle and bustle and cry about deadlines and act like the world's gonna end if this client doesn't get all his dicks sucked, but at the end of the day, you're going to have a nice dinner and go to sleep and so will everyone else. They don't pay you enough to have anxiety over their shit. Just stay on top of your own shit, do what you can, listen to some podcasts, and go home.

heister: Look at all these wannabe richies hating on an expensive salad. https://arthuxtable.com/
 

Blanditiis odit quos est rem dolores repellat. Corrupti accusamus et ea eius. Rerum et quo quos est.

Iste iusto sint rem. Id expedita cumque dolorem atque error praesentium. Quo sed vero ducimus repudiandae provident.

Exercitationem vel quos voluptas excepturi. Sed eos vero minima fugiat vero. Id rem accusamus sint laboriosam qui. Laudantium enim esse dolorem molestiae quis. Ut esse sed earum sequi animi molestias esse voluptatem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”