deadline surfing

A deadline is approaching, there is 20 person-days of work to-be-done, and 5 workdays in front of you. While you wade through the doable tasks, more work piles up behind you faster and faster, pushing you towards the deadline. Then, the wave breaks, either you surf straight out of it with confidence and speed (you successfully finish work) or you crash and fall into the whitewater (which experienced deadline surfers call the "stuck inside a washing machine mayhem").

The deadline arrives, washes every crashed surfer on shore, while the experienced riders swim out to catch the next one.

"I love deadlines, I love the sound they make when they swoosh by".
Douglas Adams

The act of doing the least amount of work possible such that you could still conceivably get your essay in on time.