Student syndrome
Student syndrome refers to planned procrastination, when, for example, a student will only start to apply themselves to an assignment at the last possible moment before its deadline. This eliminates any potential safety margins and puts the person under stress and pressure. According to one academic source, it is done in order to induce a level of urgency high enough to ensure the proper amount of effort is put into the task.[1]
The term is used to describe this form of procrastination in general, and not only by students, e.g. in the field of software engineering: "This initial research investigates three behavioral issues which may affect team member productivity in both a traditional waterfall project and in a Scrum project: the management of stress, the use of slack and the student syndrome."[1]
The term is said to have been introduced by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his novel Critical Chain.[2]
References
- Smith, D. C. (2010). "The Effects of Student Syndrome, Stress, and Slack on Information Systems Development Projects" (PDF). Issues In Informing Science and Information Technology. 7. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
- "What Is Student Syndrome in Project Management?". Project Management Learning. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2018.