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> * Ben, a junior dev, says a week. > > * Carol, a senior dev, new to the company, says 3 days. > > * Dara, a team veteran, say 1 day, at most. Maybe it's ju

> * Ben, a junior dev, says a week. > > * Carol, a senior dev, new to the company, says 3 days. > > * Dara, a team veteran, say 1 day, at most. Maybe it's just me, but usually the estimates get longer with seniority. It might take them as long as you said it would, but the stated length would probably be reversed, since the more senior employees can easily see the pitfalls and the required housekeeping that the task brings.

xtracto 5y ago
Hehe, as part of an onsite test I did back when I was doing Devs recruiting was to ask them to estimate how much would it take for them to finish the remaining part of the test (a 10 point programming challenge where they would usually finish 5 or 6 of the points; and each point was to implement certain aspect). You could see someone was junior, when, after implementing 6 points in the 3 hour allocated, they say they would finish the remaining tasks in 1 or 2 hours. The people that were more senior, took a bit more of time to think about their estimates, given the knowledge they had gained during the past 3 hours, and usually they will give a 4 to 5 hour estimate. The dangerous thing about inexperienced people doing estimates is that they have no idea of basis on where to do estimates from.
- doctor_eval 5y ago
  Heh, without knowing the details my default answer would be “I can’t tell you because I haven’t done it yet” Estimation is a halting problem.
  - pempem 5y ago
    In my experience we take these estimations and have a conversation or set up a pair. "Great, Ben and Dara can you handle this together?" To give Ben a chance to grow and Dara a chance to show leadership/mentorship/develop institutional knowledge. Alternately: "Okay, a bit disparate. Dara (or whomever) how are you thinking about solving this?"
    - doctor_eval 5y ago
      My experience: “I think it will take 5 days but it’s complex and I’m not sure” “It’s taking longer than I thought because it’s complex. But marketing isn’t ready so it’s not my top priority” “Marketing still isn’t ready so I’ve deprioritised it” “What do you mean ‘I promised 5 days and it’s entirely my fault it’s late?’”

xtracto 5y ago

Hehe, as part of an onsite test I did back when I was doing Devs recruiting was to ask them to estimate how much would it take for them to finish the remaining part of the test (a 10 point programming challenge where they would usually finish 5 or 6 of the points; and each point was to implement certain aspect). You could see someone was junior, when, after implementing 6 points in the 3 hour allocated, they say they would finish the remaining tasks in 1 or 2 hours. The people that were more senior, took a bit more of time to think about their estimates, given the knowledge they had gained during the past 3 hours, and usually they will give a 4 to 5 hour estimate. The dangerous thing about inexperienced people doing estimates is that they have no idea of basis on where to do estimates from.

doctor_eval 5y ago
Heh, without knowing the details my default answer would be “I can’t tell you because I haven’t done it yet” Estimation is a halting problem.
- pempem 5y ago
  In my experience we take these estimations and have a conversation or set up a pair. "Great, Ben and Dara can you handle this together?" To give Ben a chance to grow and Dara a chance to show leadership/mentorship/develop institutional knowledge. Alternately: "Okay, a bit disparate. Dara (or whomever) how are you thinking about solving this?"
  - doctor_eval 5y ago
    My experience: “I think it will take 5 days but it’s complex and I’m not sure” “It’s taking longer than I thought because it’s complex. But marketing isn’t ready so it’s not my top priority” “Marketing still isn’t ready so I’ve deprioritised it” “What do you mean ‘I promised 5 days and it’s entirely my fault it’s late?’”