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I almost got fired once for explaining this to my boss. He felt very strongly that each day of a 10 day project should mark 10% in progress. I told him that ins

I almost got fired once for explaining this to my boss. He felt very strongly that each day of a 10 day project should mark 10% in progress. I told him that instead, you think about it, explore a few ideas, then suddenly you might be at 80%. But it's not linear.

2-718-281-828 5y ago
the ignorance of managment regarding non-linearity of developing something is one major reason for losing motivation. it causes much confusion and misunderstandings requiring justification. it gets tiresome after a while.
daltont 5y ago
Similar concept: If one was tasked to move a 10-ton block, 1000 yards in 10 days. You can use brute force move it 100 yards a day for 10 days or spend 5 days inventing a way to move it 1000 yards in day and get it done in 6 days.
- a9h74j 5y ago
  You might also be familiar with the Abraham Lincoln quote: If I had four hours to chop down a tree I would spend three hours sharpening the ax.
  - smaddox 5y ago
    I had not, but that's a wonderful quote. Thanks for sharing
godelski 5y ago
That just doesn't make sense because Pareto is a well known phenomena. To the point where it has entered the common lexicon (80/20 rule) and is essential for planning how long a project should take.
- hexxrer 5y ago
  It is the same way that Vilfredo Pareto is almost only known for the 80/20 rule. One of the deepest thinkers ever about society and he is known for the most boring of his ideas. Most things can be explained with this other idea of Pareto that humans are not rational but rationalizers. Most human action/thought is kind of dumb and non-rational and then we invent rational explanations after the fact. Paint a varnish of rationality after the fact on non-rational behavior in Pareto's words.