Effective deadline management is key to project success. When a team member falls behind, I first assess the issue—whether it's workload, technical challenges, or personal constraints. Reallocating tasks or providing additional support helps maintain momentum. Clear communication with stakeholders ensures transparency and alignment. Encouraging collaboration and using project management tools also improve efficiency. Ultimately, a proactive approach and team adaptability make a significant difference. How do you tackle deadline challenges in your projects?

If a team member is missing deadlines, first identify the blocker. If it’s something that can be easily resolved, troubleshoot the issue together and offer solutions. If the problem is more complex, escalate it to the team lead to determine whether the task should be reassigned or if the feature should be reconsidered for the current release. Many features can be postponed to the next version if necessary. Ideally, no one should be assigned a task beyond their capabilities, but this sometimes happens when a team overestimates a member’s skill level. In such cases, shifting tasks is a practical solution.

Allocate more time and resources towards testing, as many games are often released with bugs to meet deadlines. Patching the bugs later on might not be the best option. For instance, consider the case of Cyberpunk. Many players didn't return to play the fixed game after it had become a broken mess

If I were in this situation, I’d check in with the team member to find the issue and clear any blockers. I’d adjust priorities, break tasks into smaller steps, or redistribute work if needed. Daily check-ins would keep things on track, and I’d focus on essentials to meet the deadline. If necessary, I’d cut non-critical features and have a backup plan to ensure a successful launch.

Team members missing deadlines happens. I think that it is very important to figure out why without blaming the member. Piling on won’t help. If the team member is just under water, work with the team and producers to potentially redistribute tasks. If the member bit off too much, maybe think about “re-pointing” the bespoke task. Make sure that the person understands that this doesn’t make them less than others as a person who gets down mentally may tap out completely. Make sure you treat them like a human. We have to make sure we have a way to move forward on short deadlines. Development can be a sprint and it can hurt at times but our goal is completion early or on time. If you need more resources, get with stakeholders and sort it.