Decision deadlines help consultants keep projects moving when feedback loops start stretching past the plan.
Projects do not usually stall because the work is hard.
They stall because decisions stay open too long. If a client can delay feedback forever, the timeline becomes fiction. Decision deadlines give the project a real operating rule.
Name the exact decision
Do not ask for "thoughts" or "feedback."
Ask for a specific choice:
- approve option A or B
- confirm the audience
- sign off on the draft
- decide whether scope includes training
Vague asks create vague response times.
Attach the deadline to a downstream consequence
Clients respond faster when they can see what the delay changes:
"If we do not have approval by Thursday, the rollout guide moves to next week."
This is not pressure for its own sake. It is clarity about the operating constraint.
Repeat the deadline in every follow-up
Do not soften the deadline every time you restate it.
Keep the wording stable so the project feels structured, not negotiable. Repeated clarity builds more trust than repeated accommodation.
Consultants do better work when the project has a clock everyone can see.
[Keep client decisions from slowing delivery](https://getconsultkit.com)
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