Given the circumstances it seems reasonable to assume a programming teacher can use a program without it being foolproof enough that my mom can use it. Further,

Given the circumstances it seems reasonable to assume a programming teacher can use a program without it being foolproof enough that my mom can use it. Further, if they wanted more features (usability-wise or otherwise), they are also knowledgeable enough to ask for them, unlike an average user. Still, the students even asked clarifying questions, the author wrote. And yet they came up with a 2-hour estimate. Of course nobody is going to come to a consultancy firm to ask for a command line utility that technically solves the problem. That's an entirely different situation you're describing.