---
id: KB-PS-018
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/getting-started/starting-with-a-deadline-on-top
idioma: en
categoria: primeros-pasos
subcategoria: empezar
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-PS-014, KB-PS-011, KB-PS-023]
citadoPor: [KB-SC-001]
---

# Starting with a deadline on top

_Nobody starts calmly: you start because there is an audit, a client or a site in three weeks._

**Responde a:** I have an audit in three weeks where do I start · rolling out fast before a deadline · a client is asking for documentation now · starting with no time to prepare

The orderly rollout — mapping processes, training the team, migrating history — is the one told in presentations. The real one nearly always starts with a date: an announced audit, a new client demanding documentation, a site about to open. And with a deadline on top, the right order changes.

## What changes when there is a deadline

| With time | With a deadline on top |
| --- | --- |
| Start with the most repeated process | Start with what they will ask for on the day |
| Migrate the history | Migrate only what falls within that date's scope |
| Train the whole team | Train whoever will touch it these weeks |
| Tune it until it fits | Accept what works and tune it afterwards |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The mistake that ruins most rushed starts: **trying to bring everything in «while we are at it»**. With three weeks, loading five years of history or onboarding thirty suppliers outside that audit's scope does not get you closer to the date — it eats it. Anything that will not be looked at on the day is done afterwards, and done better, because by then you will know how you work inside.

## The three weeks, in order

1. **Write down exactly what they will ask for** — With the auditor's or client's list in front of you, if you can.
2. **Load only that, and check it can be found** — Finding it in twenty seconds is the test, not having uploaded it.
3. **Request whatever is missing, one message per item** — It is the slowest part: it depends on third parties, not on you.
4. **And rehearse the handover once** — Show a colleague as if they were the auditor. That is where the gaps appear.

> [!WARNING]
> What almost nobody sizes correctly: **anything depending on a third party takes weeks, not days**. A certificate an official body has to issue, an insurance policy the broker has to update, a signature from someone on holiday. Those requests go out on day one, before anything is tidy — you can speed up your internal order, you cannot speed up an outside answer.

## After the date, not before

**En corto**

- Migrate the history that was not needed that day.
- Extend to the other processes, now with your own judgement.
- And review what was done by hand in a rush, to automate it before the next one.

> [!NOTE]
> A partial first rollout is not a debt: it is the only kind that finishes. A complete rollout that misses the date is worth nothing; a partial one that makes it carries the next stage.

**What if we do not get to everything?**

Hand over what there is and say what is missing and by when. Hiding it is worse.

**Is it worth starting this tight?**

Yes, if you narrow the scope. A real date organises more than no date at all.

**Do we bring the whole team in from day one?**

No: only whoever will touch it these weeks. The rest, later.

## Ejemplos

**A company has a client audit in three weeks and nothing in order.**

- Asks the client for the list, sends third-party requests on day one and loads only that scope

→ It reaches the audit with what is asked for findable, and tidies the rest calmly afterwards.

**Three weeks remain and the work starts by building the full structure.**

- Loads only what the deadline requires and leaves the rest

→ You reach the date with what is asked for, not half an archive.

**Whatever depends on third parties is requested in the final week.**

- Launches on day one everything somebody outside must answer

→ Waiting time runs in parallel with the internal work.

**Nobody knows exactly what is missing five days out.**

- Checks status per file instead of asking by email

→ The last days go on closing specific gaps.

**Halfway through, a document nobody requested turns out to be missing.**

- Checks the list with whoever will audit before starting

→ The scope is set with whoever will review it.

**Once the date passes, everything stays as it was left.**

- Reserves a week afterwards to tidy what was done in a hurry

→ The rush leaves a usable system rather than a patch.