The owner of the company was a bit concerned that I was taking a lot of time to develop a time estimate for a purchase order system that I am building. Below is my response.
One thing that I didn't make clear in the meeting is that I use estimates as a personal time management tool. Once someone understands how to put together a time estimate, it's actually a ridiculously easy thing to do. With more practice, the times become more accurate. I've found that when I put together a good estimate, I have most of my basic system design in place (one can't estimate without knowing what one's implementing) and the work is much easier to do.
When I work on a given task and I see that I've allotted seven hours for it, I find it easier to keep on task and not get distracted because I have a deadline that is self-imposed. Because my time estimate is my promise to meet a certain goal, I feel very invested in keeping my promise.
Oblique Strategies says "Slow preparation, fast execution"
Nicely stated. I take it this is a follow-up to the manager you mentioned previously?
Re:Well put
Ovid on 2003-04-09T01:29:15
Actually, no. This time it was the owner of the company, but the other time it was the project manager. However, the owner likes to come over and change things so frequently that there's not much difference. Recently, the project manager asked me why I left so many items out of one of our screens and I replied "because **** (the owner) told me to."
As it turns out, the owner admitted that this wasn't correct so I wound up spending a couple of days adding back features after I already submitted the code for testing. However, I didn't add anything back until after sending both of them an email clearly explaining what I was adding so I could get them to both sign off on it. (and the owner wonders why I want things in writing. If it's not written down, it doesn't exist)
