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The point is, it is hard to get to a rough idea, when you don't do the work needed to get to that rough idea. Even worse, many times the stakeholders don't real
by gonzus 5y ago
The point is, it is hard to get to a rough idea, when you don't do the work needed to get to that rough idea. Even worse, many times the stakeholders don't really know what they want, and you are faced with unstable requirements; this means more uncertainty, worse estimations, etc.
- magicalhippo 5y agoWhenever my boss asks for estimates (which thankfully is very seldom), I always give ranges, and I always make sure to highlight the ones I feel confident in and especially the ones I feel less sure about in. Last time I broke it down into about four pieces, two of which I had a firm grasp on and could give a fairly solid estimate, "about half a day", and one part which I said "this might take a day, it may take a week, I'll know once I've worked on it for a bit". I'll state what my assumptions are for the estimate so he can red flag things if the customer changes their mind, and I might offer some alternative estimates for different scenarios if I sense the goal is not entirely set in stone. This gives my boss what he needs, which is a rough idea on the scope of the project and whether it's a slam dunk or "here be dragons".