I worked in the actual, physical industry programming parts of assembly lines. Yes, such estimates are asked for and given. And yes, they are completely bollock

I worked in the actual, physical industry programming parts of assembly lines. Yes, such estimates are asked for and given. And yes, they are completely bollocks. So bollocks in fact, that when you arrive on project, the estimated time you gave, was already used up by other entitys like construction, eltronic engineering and various logistic problems. One can only estimate things done before. By the same person. One the exact same machine. In the exact same circumstances. And even then, the % savings of only replication after every known unknown has been eliminated, is mostly guesswork. The truth is also, that most planers constantly overrun there own project planning deadlines and the promises of their projeccts. But hey, the pope forgives himself, thats the easy part. I wish the likes of you would for just one year walk in those shoes on whose toes you usually step to apply pressure. And no, repeatetly asking for a better timeline on nailing a pudding to a wall, does not get you closer to reality. It only gives you a metric on how fast somebody insufferable gets to hear whatever he wants to hear to dissappear. And your planning and all the deadlines, are not even part of the after project renegotiations usually, were whats actually was demanded in the final form and all between forms - and what was missing is broken down into kharma and money. For constant change is even in physical projects, when things do not work out. Usually the planners are then "taken off project cause they are needed elsewhere", aka the grownup need to find a solution and they need to find it fast and efficient, without additional barking waking the real mean dogs.