Student syndrome

Not to be confused with medical student syndrome or senioritis.

Student syndrome refers to planned procrastination, when a student will begin to substantially apply themselves to an assignment or task at the last moment before its deadline.[1] For a person experiencing student syndrome, they only begin to make significant progress when there is a sense of urgency that causes the person to put the proper amount of effort into their task. This eliminates any potential safety margins and puts the person under stress and pressure.[2] An estimated 80 to 95 percent of college students engage in some form of procrastination.[3]

The term is used to describe this form of procrastination in general, and does not only apply to students. It has been observed to affect work flow and productivity in a traditional class setting, the manufacturing industry, and professional fields, such as software engineering and engineering management. [2][4]

The term was coined by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his novel Critical Chain.[5]

  1. ^ Post, Anita Lee (2007). "Success factors in developing and delivering online courses in operations management". International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education. 2 (2): 131. doi:10.1504/ijiome.2007.015279. ISSN 1744-2303.
  2. ^ a b 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: 489–494. doi:10.28945/1222. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Weilbaker, T; Popkov, S; Colletti, R; Tillman, T (2009). "Factors related to the student syndrome phenomenon in online courses". Journal of Management & Engineering Integration. 2 (2): 131–135.
  5. ^ "What Is Student Syndrome in Project Management?". Project Management Learning. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.