In short: don't try to estimate how much time each item takes. Calculate the baseline of past tasks and extrapolate into the future. It's a good start on the p

In short: don't try to estimate how much time each item takes. Calculate the baseline of past tasks and extrapolate into the future. It's a good start on the path to more realistic estimations. But it does not yet satisfy what has in my career always been the main purpose of estimates: relative cost analysis. When colleagues ask me how much time a task will take, responding by "well, tasks take on average 8 days" is not helpful. They need to know which tasks are worth the cost. How could we come up with estimates that are both evidence-based and relative?