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Sandtree

ushjr said:
If I couldn't meet a deadline, I would give my apologies and explain why I can't meet it to everyone who needs to know and propose a deadline I could meet. No idea whether that's a good enough answer or not, but can't think of what else I would do.

The wrong answer is something along the lines of "they'll get it when they get it and its their fault for giving me too much to do".

A common answer is saying you'll do overtime etc to try and hit the deadline.

What is good enough will depend somewhat on your level of seniority/experience. A more rounded answer will cover off things like looking to see if there is anything else you can deprioritise,  delegate etc, is there a core element that you can deliver ontime and a secondary aspect you can distribute later.

You've got the basics of expectation management and coming up with a proposed delivery date rather than just a statement of "cant do it" but maybe can explore what solutions may be open to you depending on the nature of your work and how divisible it is