41–50 of 51 posts
If they want a fixed date, take 60% of your velocity and you'll be pretty sure your math will work out to give you the project on time.
Anything not based on data is pulling numbers out of your ass, and it's hilariously disastrous every time.
How do you communicate if you won't hit an estimate? Immediately, with brutal honesty, and positively. 1. Immediately: Never delay communication. Most people will be less upset about the schedule than the fact that they weren't informed. 2. With Brutal Honesty: Explain exactly what's going on. You may end up with a pleasant surprise. "Oh, can we just have xyz then?" or "How can we reduce the scope?" or " How can we h…
It also helps if you know what is the highest priority and what can get sacrificed.
If you're late, talk about it in your retrospective. Taking time to look back will help you make better estimates in the future. Often times I gauge how reliable an engineer's estimate is based off of how many questions he/she asked me during the kick off meeting.
How do you communicate if you won't hit an estimate? Immediately, with brutal honesty, and positively. 1. Immediately: Never delay communication. Most people will be less upset about the schedule than the fact that they weren't informed. 2. With Brutal Honesty: Explain exactly what's going on. You may end up with a pleasant surprise. "Oh, can we just have xyz then?" or "How can we reduce the scope?" or " How can we h…
You're the fucking man or woman
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is horrible advice.
Why? Can you elaborate on why you feel that way and what you feel would be better advice?
Providing an hourly schedule for a project as short as a week sounds completely crazy to me. Imagine how to pull that off for a month+ project. Maybe the sentence was phrased poorly.
How do you communicate if you won't hit an estimate? Immediately, with brutal honesty, and positively. 1. Immediately: Never delay communication. Most people will be less upset about the schedule than the fact that they weren't informed. 2. With Brutal Honesty: Explain exactly what's going on. You may end up with a pleasant surprise. "Oh, can we just have xyz then?" or "How can we reduce the scope?" or " How can we h…
You're the fucking man or woman
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is horrible advice.
Why? Can you elaborate on why you feel that way and what you feel would be better advice?
How do you communicate if you won't hit an estimate? Immediately, with brutal honesty, and positively. 1. Immediately: Never delay communication. Most people will be less upset about the schedule than the fact that they weren't informed. 2. With Brutal Honesty: Explain exactly what's going on. You may end up with a pleasant surprise. "Oh, can we just have xyz then?" or "How can we reduce the scope?" or " How can we h…
If you give a single number, there's a 100% chance that it's wrong -- you're never going to hit it exactly.
Instead, what you should be aiming for is to give an interval that is correct, say, 90% of the time (so still wrong 1 out of 10 times).
If you do it honestly, the intervals have to be much wider you than you are used to -- the "two weeks" you would usually say is realistically more between 8 working days and six weeks, with 90% confidence.
A major benefit of giving intervals to people instead of fixed numbers is that it makes it really clear that it's not a deadline and can't be treated as one.
If they tell you this is unacceptable, then only give the high number, and McConnell's book.