zlacker

>>mattjh+(OP)
Is it going to take more than two hours?

Is it going to take more than two days?

Is it going to take more than two weeks?

Is it going to take more than two months?

Is it going to take more than two years?

If you can answer these questions, you can estimate using a confidence interval.

If the estimate is too wide, break it down into smaller chunks, and re-estimate.

If you can't break it down further, decide whether it's worth spending time to gather information needed to narrow the estimate or break it down. If not, scrap the project.

>>xn+VB
There’s also something more concrete about asking “Can you get it done by end of tomorrow? What does that require?”

I prefer it over estimating which feels more like asking the length of a piece of string.

>>scott_+wo1
The problem I have is, conceptually a task always looks easy, but then as your coding, you hit several problems that are not simple to overcome - in fact, lot of times these issues turn into almost insolvable problems that blow out any time estimates ;(

>>alfied+NX1
It really depends. Anyone doing meaningful work will have hard time giving estimates. But churning up the next CRUD application with now special requirements can have no unknown variables. The question of course remains, why would anyone want to waste their time reinventing a spreadsheet.

>>napapa+G62
>why would anyone want to waste their time reinventing a spreadsheet

I hope this is tongue in cheek, right? If not, here are some reasons:

1) spreadsheets embed "functions" via macros and macros are often flagged as malicious. Just combining native functions can get pretty complex.

2) in a spreadsheet, everybody sees the input, which is not always ideal

3) data types are controlled by users for the entire column or sheet, which can mess up formulas

I could probably think of additional reasons.

>>arter4+663
You are correct, comparing making the next CRUD application to reinventing the spreadsheet was supposed to be a slightly humorous way to describe the repetitive and not too challenging part of writing business applications.

There also are people who use software to guide space rockets, cars, optimise calculation algorithms and more.

My guess is people with background mostly in CRUD don't get how everybody else messes up estimating so badly and people in the innovative task group find it hard to believe sane people would waste their time giving any estimates other than for technically irrelevant business reasons.