2024-05-01 23:14 UTC
But back to estimates. My process for estimates is still pretty informal. Some folks here have pointed to books and blog posts that outline much more rigorous methods. But that doesn't appeal to me. I gravitate towards work environments where keeping things informal is expected. And that usually means there is a lot of flexibility in determining the tradeoffs. E.g. timeframes or scope of work.
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@polotek@social.polotek.net 2024-05-01 23:19
Here are some the heuristics I tend to use. * If you're giving hard estimates further than 3 months out, you're probably making it up. * We can and should break large efforts down into phases or milestones. Those should target 3 months or less so the estimates can be meaningful. * Getting good at swaging these 3 months milestones means you *can* give fuzzy estimates about large efforts. 4-5 milestones means "this could easily take 18 months".