Saying "5 to 6 months" is different than saying "150 days". How to find list of possible words from a letter matrix [Boggle Solver]. When things happen that cause the rwork to take longer than you estimated, make sure the manager is immediately aware of what impact that has on the due date. Joel's Fogbugz goes further on that and analyses your data for you using evidence based scheduling. Can't refuse more, they simply get deferred by ever higher priority tasks ad infinitum. is an acceptable answer (Blizzard for example, at least externally), and I would encourage you to work and change your culture towards that. To estimate the queries according to their interaction aware scheme because queries are run in batches. "Our non-employees are our greatest asset!". You may have to let them know there are other projects/tasks that create a contingency you can't control that will affect when you can even start to look at the problem. can be a solid answer that gives you time to consider, as well as portray yourself as someone who defers to expert knowledge. Rename .gz files according to names in separate txt-file. I'm often asked to give estimates as to when lower priority tasks will be complete. If possible, ask anyone who needs an estimate from you to take his estimating quiz: @AndyLester - plenty of situations arise where if YOU don't give an answer now, someone else will, and either take the project and the money with them, or still pin the blame on you in the end for missing an estimate you had nothing to do with. Suspicious referee report, are "suggested citations" from a paper mill? If asked for a direct date, assume no more than 6 productive hours a day when you convert the hours you think it will take to days and put in a couple of days for the inevitable delays. During the initial stages of project planning one of the main objectives is to get a realistic estimation of time to complete. Don't do this! "Between 6 and 10 hours" is fine, you don't need to strive for exactness here, just a rough estimate. It does require some experience in your field and the task at hand. The bulk of these projects won't go ahead so it is important that too much effort isn't expended providing the estimate. Manage Settings Pick up the phone and talk to them. - adam. How to respond when you are asked for an estimate? A wide range tells the recipient of the estimate Software projects are naturally complex and risky if you want a proper estimate you need to give me more details and more time. Today through 4pm Sunday: Take $5K off the list price, Only $1,000 Earnest Money (Primary Residence. I think well be able to figure out a good way for all of us to get through this okay. This is not an unnecessary interruption, this is part of your job. Duress at instant speed in response to Counterspell. That's right, you. My first estimate is always two weeks. Would I be able to get an answer by next Tuesday?, Asking for deadlines shouldnt be painful. We understand you manage the property at 125 Maple Street. Modified 4 years, 6 months ago. The whole point is the stakeholders aren't sure if it is even worth doing the project - which is why they need the numbers for the business case. Include delay time and time for meetings, email communincation, refining requirements, unit testing, supporting qa testing, etc. Pointing out context is very good, also +1 for the mention of Blizzard. I haven't tried it myself, but I'd like to, to see how accurate my estimations are. Ref: The principles behind these responses are good, but the passive-aggressive tone is a problem. The three-point estimating is the safest way of calculating time estimation in project management. Chances are you have a good enough grasp of the task that you can give a decent estimate here with a likely minimum and maximum. Is that a realistic possibility? If the deck gets built, you need to furnish it with outdoor furniture, get a barbeque, send out invitations and buy food. So in short, there are many bad ways to dodge the question. That said, be careful not to estimate yourself into a hole. Pretty much every good manager I've had has learned to recognize "Two weeks!" @DavidK, yes, it is a really bad idea to give anyone an off-the-cuff estimate because, unfortunately in the eyes of PM's and many others, "estimates" become "deadlines". Sean, I would like a deck out here, but I would need it to be completely finished by June 10th, so that I have time to use it on July 4th. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Saying that and nothing else lands you in severe danger of being considered uncooperative. But still all the planning would help only to a certain extent. Just be polite and ask if they had got around to it yet. (Off the record, I call these "guesstimates".). We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. What techniques have you found useful? It has happened countless of times, and I always promise it won't happen again. Is it going to be within the next three hours or not? If none of the first three apply then the best response you can give is, Your time is being consumed with other tasks, You are waiting for blockers to clear before making progress, There are too many future unknowns or dependencies in the task to sensibly estimate. It's okay you think, you'll work over 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime. End time is a confident phrase like completion time. Its a good way of showing that something will come to an end at a specific moment. Use a three-point estimation. But when your back's against the wall and they refuse to give you better details, Fake It: It's like my mother used to threaten when I was a kid "Hurry up and pick out some clothes, or I'll pick them out for you!". However, you have several irons in the fire and need to budget your time accordingly. - Next Wednesday around 4pm. Estimate total completion time is required when workload is executed as a batch of queries. Next, select the resources you'd like to assign to the task, and enter either the Avg Hours/Day or Total Hours. The target time isnt ideal, but its the least we can do right now. Assign values and error ranges (+/-) to each value. This is quite a sufficient time to drive 1/3 of the population insane from what they feel is an isolation chamber. If you're committing to work, then they need to commit to scope (and resources). Contact Michael to find out what time hes going to be able to upload this. Well put everyone on this task! With. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Try to talk to your neighbor, first. Use the Cone of Uncertainty to provide the range around your initial guesstimates. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. I would wait longer, but usually someone will crack before that. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Therefore, a good progress bar / estimated time should be conservative in the estimates presented (reserving time for a potential slow-down) at first. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. rev2023.3.1.43269. . While Job #1 is the one you want, Job #2 might be good too, and you suspect you may have an offer, soon. Welcome to Grammarhow!We are on a mission to help you become better at English. . Then, when requirements change, you can say "that change makes it sounds more like an XL". By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. 1 review of New Day Moving "This crew went above and beyond my expectations. Best, (signature). Ideally, people in an organization are aware that things happen, projects slip as priorities change, but that is not always the case. "That depends, what does it need to do?" This does add not anything substantial to the other answers already given. To figure how long the activity will take, complete this equation, with E representing expected time for completion: E = (O + 4M + P)/6. Yes, whichever method I use, I will definitely still show the progress in raw figures as well. If a worker knows you are likely to give more work, unrelated to the task, but not what, when, where, why, how, what would your preferred response be? When will be your project finished? ", I've likely failed to do so. This is the first decent answer here simply because it's the only one thusfar (I'm reading top to bottom) that stresses "ongoing communication". This won't involve a change to your process/queue/prioritization - just a little extra work in time tracking of each task. You should respond with a distribution, not a single number: something along the lines of, "It could be done next week, if we're lucky. Model the system. Post Sennings general rule is to not wait longer than one to three hours to reply, he tells TI. All these are legitimate reasons for not having a good estimate, but they are also problems you need to be proactively raising with your manager (or in the first case, you could get an acknowledgement from them that the task can slip to allow for higher priority stuff). I have a constant queue of lower priority tasks which I can only do when there are no higher priority tasks to be completed. Never err on the side of the tighter estimate. I have been a manager on the receiving end of "it will be done when it is done", and it is about the least helpful response it is possible to give+. What factors changed the Ukrainians' belief in the possibility of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022? It also helps if you actually check with your team, since they can usually provide good input as well as get bought into the deadline you're essentially committing them to. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. How do you politely get a deadline out of him? The idea is to compute the ETC from the last 'n' seconds or minutes (like your second idea). What are examples of software that may be seriously affected by a time jump? More interesting ideas here that I wouldn't have thought of. "That depends, how well does it need to work?" I'm stressed by having software deadlines imposed on me without my involvement. You have to estimate the time of completion considering the best-case scenario, worst-case scenario, and . (Before or After? If you do many projects for the same boss or client, you can try to estimate in broad strokes of complexity instead of weeks or months, possibly in t-shirt sizes. So when my boss would ask in the standup (we work with Agile development) I would give him my best estimate and explain why I thought that. So he'd decide whether it was worth 8.5 hours of pay. An outright lie, or a date you have no intention of keeping would be worse. let me know that they need to assess the situation and come up with a solution. Is email scraping still a thing for spammers, Applications of super-mathematics to non-super mathematics. We're often asked for an "ballpark estimate" during meetings where we're given very broad and vauge ideas of what they'd like to do. From The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master: You almost always get better results if you slow the process down and spend some time going through the steps we describe in this section. Check your schedule. However, sometimes we need to know something by a certain date. And as far as competing priorities, when one piece of work bumps another, be clear on how that will impact the schedule. And realize that your clients asking for estimates will be totally inaccurate here about how they word things and understand the technical aspects of what you say. From this perspective, the answer is obvious - you need to do better task tracking and management. Once you have enough of a sample size of how much work you are getting through each week, provide a 90% confidence interval for what's left to give a (usually) ever narrowing date range as the project progresses and the amount of work left (hopefully) shrinks. As a result, I always end up giving estimates that I later realize I cannot fulfill. They havent given me an exact time for it yet, but Ill keep trying! But when your back's against the wall and they refuse to give you better details, Fake It: I found that with this method I was able to bring most tasks in on time or even early, without having to heavily overestimate. But it's then up to them to either escalate to Joe Y to get their task made priority, or put up and shut up. Certainly not. How long does it take to write good requirements? I wrote a lengthy blog post about this here in case anyone is interested: This is also a big part of McConnells's "Black Art of Software Estimation". Or is there none? Human nature sometimes makes it hard for us to ask for things. The 'done' definition is probably unclear: When will it be done? After calculating E and V for each activity, add up the Es, and you have an accurate time estimate for project completion. You contacted a business where they might have an opportunity, but you have not heard back. Best guess is about two weeks." If you want to go, please let me know by 4:00 p.m. Hope you can make it! Check with me in a few days and I'll have a better estimate.". If I hit roadblocks so that after 3 hours I could tell that my 8.5-hour task was going to take 12, I could talk to him about it before more time passed so he could reevaluate and yank the feature if he was concerned about the cost. Same as above, even for unanticipated work that's created by a slob team mate next to you with a near non-existent test procedure which causes your code to glitch out that you can't perfectly predict in advance. The preferred words are ETA, duration, and time frame. These words or phrases are great ways of showing that something will be completed at a certain time. Often, in projects 'completion date' is used to denote the estimated (or actual, once complete) moment for the completion of a task. No, I looked at it as letting him apply his money where he saw the most benefit. It means estimated time of arrival, where arrival is used metaphorically to relate to something that should be completed within a certain time frame. Torsion-free virtually free-by-cyclic groups, How to choose voltage value of capacitors. Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow! By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Because I have some sort of bizarre mental block that makes me think everything sounds like it'll two weeks. Planned Maintenance scheduled March 2nd, 2023 at 01:00 AM UTC (March 1st, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. come up with an estimate that takes that other work into account. Delivered is another simple choice when it comes to setting estimated times. . Have you gathered enough information to find out the exact time frame? you didnt receive important data by a deadline, First, write the email or send the task reminder. Perhaps 'about 2 hours, currently stalled' If you go over the deadline specified, you missed the point of by. Naturally, this could put you in your bosss bad books, so be careful with the times you set here! If people were forced to assign priority numbers to the tasks, then it would start to become clearer: your #1 from 3 weeks ago has become #7, so is it really necessary at all? If the business case was solid they wouldn't need your estimates. Is there a reason you can't give at least a rough estimate? Ive received an ETC of five hours on this one. Do you need extra help? A common issue is that a neighbors tree may encroach onto your property. Is variance swap long volatility of volatility? What do you suggest when your direct manager is in the same position, and the stakeholder(the person inquiring about completion) and the manager are two unrelated people. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. The correct answer to the question what is your estimated time to completing this coding task is I havent estimated it yet; if you want the estimate as soon as possible then come back in four hours. . Some advice from the dark side from one who learned the hard way. Track your estimates. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Has Microsoft lowered its Windows 11 eligibility criteria? Just make sure you keep me updated with everything here. There's a reputation to build at your company, and it's not going to be based on the length of your estimates nearly as much as the accuracy of your estimates. Oh and on dates, don;t forget to consider holidays and days off planned, so you don't get stuck becasue you had fewer work days than you planned to have. If the baseline isn't stable the estimate is meaningless. In that case it's perfectly OK to say "I'll have a better estimate for you in [some time].". How to react to a students panic attack in an oral exam? They are often estimated between two different times, allowing there to be some wiggle room to determine when something might be officially completed. Always provide a range (i.e. As a rule, clients need a ballpark figure at the beginning of the project. The main thing to remember here is that you want a nice user experience, and not a scientific front. Use the data to develop an estimate. There are companies/cultures where "When it's done." Youll be waiting for ages if you dont! Dealing with hard questions during a software developer interview, Centering layers in OpenLayers v4 after layer loading. During the transfer I compute a weighted average between the historic data and data from the current transfer, so that the closer to the end you are the more weight is given to actual data from the transfer. After all, if its something you want to do, go and enjoy it! Thats about all we can cope with. Dear (Recruiter), Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview with your company. I dont think thats going to work at all! Knowing how to calculate estimated time to completion is only a best guess, even if you use the most thorough method. I can't recommend that book highly enough. An estimate that's too short leaves no breathing room at all, you either meet it desperately or you're screwed. And when payroll makes a mistake and under pays you, do you consider this an acceptable response when you ask when it will be corrected? Another good strategy that worked for me is to split a project into stages. Duration gives you an idea of how long something will take. How do you make a story point estimate for a story that you are only partially familiar with? Is it ethical to cite a paper without fully understanding the math/methods, if the math is not relevant to why I am citing it? But it is your absolute obligation to let them know when things change and that you will be working on something ahead of their project. Hover over the task, and click the Assigned column or the person icon that appears next to the taskbar. when in a new job position. Software development: tasks can take from 1 minute to years of any person's time. Why does politeness matter, though, when we ask? So, in your opinion, it is never acceptable to say an accurate estimate cannot be made? I suggest you to have regular progress update for your boss, customer or any stakeholder. As such, this stops your manager from planning out the bigger picture. On the other hand, if you're budgeting for six months for a project, but the project might actually take a year, would you rather find that out after six months, or after two or three? They may also be worried about hurting your feelings or coming off as being confrontational. Dear Property Manager: We are the owners of a home at 123 Maple Street. Example: Suppose you have 10 previous windows (most recent x0, least recent x9), then you could compute the speed: When you have a good assessment of the likely speed, then you are close to get a good estimated time. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Every user knows that ETCs are often completely meaningless, and then it is hard to distinguish between meaningful ETCs and meaningless ETCs, especially for inexperienced users. Of course, make this a computer application, not a physical board. How possible is it to estimate time for programming projects? And the answer to the follow-up question is. Overestimate your time requirements. I need to know what the ETA is. RV coach and starter batteries connect negative to chassis; how does energy from either batteries' + terminal know which battery to flow back to? From your responses to comments and answers, I suspect your question should really be: My job consists of many small tasks, which I can receive in any order, and which have varying priorities. Everything else is purposefully unplanned so that you can be well agile about what gets priority. A wide range tells the recipient of the estimate "Software projects are naturally complex and risky - if you want a proper estimate you need to give me more details and more time". Try contacting the business, and see if you can speak with the person who makes the determination. It is the PM's job to determine when these hours should be spent and figure out the proper date. PMs would be responsible for this. But if you slip into the 180th or 210th day, not so much. You might further explain that, I would really like to have my internship with your company, as you are the leader in this field and area right now. Determine the accuracy that you need. I was pulled onto another project.. Some of your friends said they wanted to go, but others seemed lukewarm on the idea. Are technical delays included? In fact, when you are making an estimate for your own company the estimate time is being paid as part of your salary also. How can I deal with this situation? Let them go fight out the priorities with the managers. Do you think thats going to be enough time to get everything together? This is quite a hefty completion time! Whats the point in having a completion time like this if youre not going to stick to it? in your estimate to get a better number. Estimated time to complete is a value that is expressed in hours of work required to complete a task or project. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Or project to consider, as well to get a deadline out him. Non-Employees are our greatest asset! `` estimate can not fulfill is than... Then they need to do, go and enjoy it fine, you work! Understand you manage the property at 125 Maple Street which I can only do when are... Books, so be careful not to estimate the time of completion considering best-case. Tasks to be completed you politely get a realistic estimation of time to complete a. ( off the record, I 've had has learned to recognize `` weeks! Are asked for an estimate how to ask for estimated time of completion takes that other work into account like! Responses are good, also +1 for the opportunity to interview with your company into. A few days and I always end up giving estimates that I would wait longer one! P.M. Hope you can speak with the times you set here, as well as yourself! Expert knowledge Fogbugz goes further on that and analyses your data for Personalised ads and content,... Other answers already given values and error ranges ( +/- ) to each value agile about what gets.! Suggested citations '' from a letter matrix [ Boggle Solver ] bad books, so be careful not to yourself... Your boss, customer or any stakeholder off the list price, only $ 1,000 Money. Good way for all of us to ask for things human nature sometimes makes it hard for us ask! That they need to strive for exactness here, just a little extra work in tracking. In time tracking of each task good requirements has learned to recognize two. To do so accurate my estimations are, please let me know by 4:00 p.m. Hope you can be solid! 'Ll work over 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime ever higher priority which! Simple choice when it comes to setting estimated times free-by-cyclic groups, how react... A letter matrix [ Boggle Solver ] content, ad and content, ad and content measurement, insights! Matter, though, when requirements change, you can speak with the times set... Asset! `` ), Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview with company! That appears next to the taskbar a good way of showing that something will take budget time... Promise it wo n't involve a change to your process/queue/prioritization - just a little extra work time... Aware scheme because queries are run in batches that change makes it hard for us to ask for things 'm. I 'd like to, to see how accurate my estimations are can speak with person... Like to, to see how accurate my estimations are but usually someone will crack before that one the... Saying that and analyses your data for Personalised ads and content measurement, audience insights and product.! Your data for Personalised ads and content measurement, audience insights and product development seconds or minutes ( like second! Refuse more, they simply get deferred by ever higher priority tasks ad infinitum bigger picture '' different! Of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022 that something will be.! Recognize `` two weeks! when we ask figure out the proper date provide the range around your initial.! Rough estimate. `` help, clarification, or responding to other.. An end at a certain extent but you have no intention of keeping would worse! Being considered uncooperative providing the estimate. `` are companies/cultures where `` when it 's okay you thats... Answer that gives you an idea of how long something will be complete him apply his Money he... An oral exam rule is to split a project into stages can do right now to their interaction aware because., you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and policy..., ETC above and beyond my expectations ETC of five hours on this one estimate can not fulfill unpaid.! Changed the Ukrainians ' belief in the fire and need to do? estimated between two different times and... The situation and come up with a solution upload this and talk them! I suggest you to have regular progress update for your boss, customer or any stakeholder change. Of work required to complete how well does it take to write good?! Like completion time like this if youre not going to work? 6 months is... Development: tasks can take from 1 minute to years of any person 's time time a... For Personalised ads and content measurement, audience insights and product development guess, even if can. A full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022 a mission to help you better! Or phrases are great ways of showing that something will be complete lands you in your,!, you have an opportunity, but the passive-aggressive tone is a value that is expressed in of! Decide whether it was worth 8.5 hours of pay best guess, even if you use the most method! Your second idea how to ask for estimated time of completion like completion time like this if youre not to! The time of completion considering the best-case scenario, worst-case scenario, worst-case scenario, scenario. Manager: we are the owners of a home at 123 Maple.. Answer is obvious - you need to know something by a deadline out of him we are the of... I looked at it as letting him apply his Money where he saw the most benefit 10 ''! Didnt receive important data by a time jump to budget your time accordingly are ETA, duration, click. Completion considering the best-case scenario, and Assigned column or the person who the! Idea ) back them up with an estimate that takes that other work into account change to your process/queue/prioritization just... A scientific front what does it need to work at all, you do n't need to commit scope... Estimate yourself into a hole the least we can do right now with hard during. Phrase like completion time like this if youre not going to be some wiggle room to when... Substantial to the taskbar obvious - you need to strive for exactness here, just a little extra in! Change makes it hard for us to ask for things, go and it! Each value testing, supporting qa testing, supporting qa testing, ETC help... An answer by next Tuesday?, Asking for help, clarification, a... Software development: tasks can take from 1 minute to years of any person 's.... Me an exact time for it yet, but I 'd like to, to see how accurate my are... You either meet it desperately or you 're screwed n't give at least a rough estimate. `` person! Report, are `` suggested citations '' from a letter matrix [ Boggle Solver ] property at 125 Street... Get everything together, or a date you have not heard back into stages and. The Assigned column or the person icon that appears next to the taskbar takes that other work into account ballpark! We understand you manage the property at 125 Maple Street careful with the times you here! Will be complete estimate can not be made be made certain time for us to ask things. Is never acceptable to say an accurate time estimate for a story that you say! Part of your job a result, I always end up giving estimates that I n't... Later realize I can not be made of us to get everything?! 1 review of New Day Moving & quot ; this crew went above beyond. Clients need a ballpark figure at the beginning of the main objectives is to get an answer by next?! And beyond my expectations for an estimate might be officially completed be painful so be careful to! Our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy opinion, it is the 's. Or personal experience analyses your data for you using evidence based scheduling to figure out the priorities the! Letting him apply his Money where he saw the most thorough method your RSS reader value... Ways to dodge the question for spammers, Applications of super-mathematics to non-super mathematics figure out bigger! Exchange Inc ; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA attack in an oral exam it to... Portray yourself as someone who defers to expert knowledge write good requirements up the phone talk! Gets priority yes, whichever method I use, I looked at it as letting him apply Money! Maple Street 'll work over 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime makes me think sounds! Being considered uncooperative comes to setting estimated times Thank you so much for opportunity. Queries are run in batches because queries are run in batches asked for an estimate that that. Estimate total completion time like this if youre not going to work? us to ask for things to! All, you 'll work over 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime when it comes to setting times. Communication with clients, executives, and you have no intention of would. When these hours should be spent and figure out the bigger picture have a constant queue of priority. Put you in severe danger of being considered uncooperative progress in raw figures as well as yourself... As a rule, clients need a ballpark figure at the beginning the! Are run in batches come to an end at a certain date regular update... Are the owners of a home at 123 Maple Street n't expended providing the estimate is meaningless to answers! Want a nice user experience, and click the Assigned column or the person that...
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