I recently heard a project manager say something like, “I set an optimistic, aggressive schedule to make sure people work hard to meet the deadlines, otherwise, they might back off and not work as hard as they can to finish on time.” What she was trying to say, in other words, was that she believes setting an unrealistic schedule will motivate people to work hard to finish their tasks as soon as possible. What I think setting an unrealistic schedule does is teach people that your deadlines are meaningless. It therefore only motivates them to pay no attention to your schedules at all. I suppose this manager’s approach might work once, but it certainly is not going to work for long.
Would you rather work for someone who thinks she can trick you into working hard by setting unreachable deadlines, or one who involves you in coming up with a reasonable schedule and then gives you the tools you need to help you finish on time?