Yup, that is so obvious in hindsight but I hadn't thought of it that way before. "We're willing to spend this much time, will you be able to do it?" is a much e

Yup, that is so obvious in hindsight but I hadn't thought of it that way before. "We're willing to spend this much time, will you be able to do it?" is a much easier question both to ask and answer than "how much time will it take?" It also encourages collaboration over adversarial negotiation.