4 ms·
The most important thing is to state unmisunderstandably, before you start the project, that you are making an estimate which has an error range of +/- 3 orders
by Mithaldu 12y ago
The most important thing is to state unmisunderstandably, before you start the project, that you are making an estimate which has an error range of +/- 3 orders of magnitude and that you will be revising it as you go along.
Once that is clear, the customer is prepared and will be expecting and able to handle estimate revisions whenever you make them.
- SerpentJoe 12y ago6 orders of magnitude is the difference between minutes and years. I don't think I've ever heard of an estimate with that much variance.
- Mithaldu 12y agoLet me rephrase it: Unless you're very sure, a project you thought would take two hours, can take only a minute of google, or 2 months of hard work.
- hga 12y agoIndeed. However months to years is all too common. Heh, sometimes the outer limit is infinity, it becomes clear it'll never get done and is canceled.