1. Working weekends.

Being a remote worker, I don’t follow the traditional workday pattern. That means I can shift things around to clear up time for other activities, but it also means that I have trouble drawing the line between work time and professional time.

It also means that I’ve been known to work on weekends, even when there wasn’t a particular need to. Working weekends just seems logical, since it should, technically, be all bonus time. If you’re working when most people don’t, shouldn’t that also translate into increased productivity?

Not necessarily. Maybe at first, working weekends (and I’m just talking about working straight through seven days) does indeed provide a spike in productivity, but over time, if you don’t take time off for yourself, in the form of actual entire days off, it’ll affect the work you do. A refreshed worker is a better one, and working without pause will eventually led to unnecessary rework, mistakes in judgment and general sloppiness. It’ll cost you more than you gain, in other words.

2. Staying on the cutting edge.

Many of us like to stay abreast of tech and web trends. For instance, I recently got into Instagram in a big way. And while it’s a great app, I don’t really have any way of using it to improve my productivity, no matter how hard I may try to justify it to myself.

Another great recent example is RockMelt, a new browser designed with social networking in mind. RockMelt provides Facebook and Twitter integration, so that you never have far to go to share content or chat with friends. I’m tempted to try it out as a web working tool, but I know that in fact, it won’t actually help me get anything useful done.

Staying on top of new tech developments is good practice for web workers, but you have to be careful and structured about it. Set aside time during the week specifically for the task, and try not to get your head turned by every new service and/or app that launches. Plus, you can always count on us to keep scanning the horizon for the next big thing so you don’t have to.

3. GTD.

People take Getting Things Done (GTD) very seriously. So seriously that there’s an entire economy based around GTD apps and services. I probably own around 10 to-do applications for my iPhone and Mac combined.

Making lists and getting organizing projects is definitely not something I’m saying is a bad idea, but like anything else, they are appropriate in some circumstances, but not in all. Sometimes, especially if your job has a fairly regular rhythm that doesn’t deviate very much, GTD can be just another form of procrastination. Always ask yourself, “Does I really need a list/plan to accomplish this?” You’ll be surprised at how often the answer is no.

Those are my top three productivity pitfalls masquerading as useful work-boosting tools. What are yours?

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It most likely isn’t, so don’t panic. There are steps you can take to mitigate the damage and come out as clean as possible on the other side.

I’ve run into this situation on two previous occasions. Once, I brought it on myself; the other time, the firm I was working for passed me a project due to staff transitions that had already been handed off so many times there was no clear record of who began it. The following tips come from what I learned from both experiences.

Review Your Initial Commitment

Before you resign yourself to failure, make sure you aren’t mistakenly writing off a success. The parameters of an engagement have a tendency to shift once you’re underway, and you end up doing work that you never planned or promised to do in the first place. The temptation is just to keep working as long as the client is willing to pay you, regardless of scope changes, but that’s not always the best way to go about it.

If you’ve already accomplished what you intended, and you haven’t renegotiated based on a scope change, you might want to bring it up with your client, especially if you feel you’re getting out of your depth. Better to cut your losses and suggest another service provider with expertise in the new area. Your client will think better of you than if you carried the project through to completion but did a sub-par job.

Provide a Transition Package

If you have to leave work half-done, your client will likely want to have it completed either in-house, or by someone else. You can make that person’s job a lot easier, and soothe your client, by preparing a hand-off package. This can contain any number of things depending on what you’re working on, but make sure to detail your workflow to date, what has and hasn’t been accomplished, and what might need to be reviewed or corrected.

A smooth hand-off is especially important if you’re giving the project to someone else in a firm that you work for, but it’s a definite must either way. It proves to your client that you’re a consummate professional, even if this particular situation is beyond your expertise.

Propose a Solution You Can Provide

Just because you may not be able to give the client exactly what they want doesn’t mean you can’t come up with another, possibly better solution. There are often more than one means to an end, and providing a client with alternatives will also show them that you’re committed to the project and trying to exhaust all possibilities before throwing in the towel.

Be careful how you frame alternative suggestions. Some clients will respect your opinion immediately because they hired you. Others, though, will be quite set about how and what they want you to deliver, so proposing alternatives will be a delicate matter.

Payoff

In the best of all worlds, we’d all finish all of our contracts with a 100 percent satisfied customer, who got exactly what they were looking for. In fact, that’s not always possible. Falling short is a depressing event for any freelancer or contractor, but with a little care, it can be just another unpleasant memory and not a career-ending disaster.

What do you do when you can’t deliver on a project?

Image by flickr user purpletwinkie.

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