… heard a story about the subway.

Here in Boston, the orange line branch of the “T” was shut down for an entire month so that major repairs could be made.

Yesterday, as scheduled, it reopened.

Commuters being interviewed were happily amazed that the work was completed on time, as promised.

Isn’t that interesting?

We are all so conditioned to disbelieve assurances made by organizations of all kinds – whether that’s a promise that “my supervisor will call you back tomorrow,” “the wait time is under five minutes,” or “the T will be back in service on September 19th” – that when it actually happens, we are astonished.

Which is why I recommend that you always under-promise on client projects, especially when it comes to the time required to deliver.

That gives you some wiggle room in case something blows up. Plus, given how life often goes for your clients as they interact with other companies, you will stand out as the happy exception.