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> you absolutely need to have estimates 'How many fingers, Winston?' 'Four! Stop it, stop it! How can you go on? Four! Four!' 'How many fingers, Winston?' '

> you absolutely need to have estimates 'How many fingers, Winston?' 'Four! Stop it, stop it! How can you go on? Four! Four!' 'How many fingers, Winston?' 'Five! Five! Five!' 'No, Winston, that is no use. You are lying. You still think there are four. How many fingers, please?' See, I knew this comment would show up here, as it does on any discussion of software estimates. It goes like this: "Accurate software estimates are impossible, here's empirical proof and reams of evidence." "But we need estimates, therefore they are possible. I win."

nobody9999 5y ago
I wrote: If you're consulting, you absolutely need to have estimates -- because that constitutes the bulk of the Statement of Work (SOW), that is, the contract. Please don't quote me out of context. That fairly screams bad faith. Context matters. That you chose to ignore it in this case says more about you than the topic at hand, IMHO. If you disagree with what I actually said, please feel free to make a relevant argument. In fact, please do explain exactly how one might draw up a legal contract for services that contains no goals, milestones or time/cost estimates. At least one that any client with half a brain would sign off on. This is a very exciting prospect, and I'll be awaiting your response with bated breath, as you could revolutionize the consulting business with that. >"But we need estimates, therefore they are possible. I win." You seem to be under the misapprehension that I'm somehow trying to one-up some unknown other person or persons. Nothing could be further from the truth. I merely shared my (decade plus) experience providing professional services. If you are uninterested, that's fine. If you disagree, that's fine. However, your comment didn't add anything to the discussion, nor did it provide useful information of any kind. Please try again. Edit : Fixed formatting.

nobody9999 5y ago

I wrote: If you're consulting, you absolutely need to have estimates -- because that constitutes the bulk of the Statement of Work (SOW), that is, the contract. Please don't quote me out of context. That fairly screams bad faith. Context matters. That you chose to ignore it in this case says more about you than the topic at hand, IMHO. If you disagree with what I actually said, please feel free to make a relevant argument. In fact, please do explain exactly how one might draw up a legal contract for services that contains no goals, milestones or time/cost estimates. At least one that any client with half a brain would sign off on. This is a very exciting prospect, and I'll be awaiting your response with bated breath, as you could revolutionize the consulting business with that. >"But we need estimates, therefore they are possible. I win." You seem to be under the misapprehension that I'm somehow trying to one-up some unknown other person or persons. Nothing could be further from the truth. I merely shared my (decade plus) experience providing professional services. If you are uninterested, that's fine. If you disagree, that's fine. However, your comment didn't add anything to the discussion, nor did it provide useful information of any kind. Please try again. Edit : Fixed formatting.