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Some of my biggest arguments as a lead were when I'd sit in one meeting and my team would be promised that these estimates weren't going to be held against them
by bengale 5y ago
Some of my biggest arguments as a lead were when I'd sit in one meeting and my team would be promised that these estimates weren't going to be held against them and its just for a rough understanding. Then I'd go to the next meeting where those 'project managers' would be using the estimates to try and plan months into the future, as if those estimates were 100% accurate.
Then when it turns out estimates are out, I'm stuck in another meeting where they melt down about how they're going to explain overruns to their bosses. Utterly predictable madness.
Then they had the nerve to get arsey when we started refusing to estimate.
- hateful 5y agoThis is my experience, over and over - to the point where I often get to the point the article states as "just … give up". Then there's the "let's split it up into pieces first". This is where, instead of rolling one 100-sided die, we flip 100 coins to get a better estimate. But my absolute favorite is when the Project Manager asks for an estimate and you give a number and if they think it's too high or too low, they will keep asking until you give them the number they were looking for in the first place. Why even ask? Because now it's your fault if it's wrong! (side note: There are solutions to these things and they are definitely not the right way to do things and are signs of a toxic environment - but there is hope!)
- marcus_holmes 5y agoThis is part of the reason I refuse to give estimates. As TFA says, you do get better conversations with the rest of the business if you refuse to give an estimate.