I'm a coder who has worn a lot of hats, from individual contributor to lead engineer to "CTO" (yes, in quotes, make of that what you will!). I've plenty to learn and hopefully some to share as well.
One of my favorite tips is to never give a single estimate: give two, a 50% confidence estimate and an 80% confidence estimate.
As a rule of thumb the 80% estimate can just be double the 50% estimate, though YMMV.
Doing it this way draws attention to the inherent inaccuracy of estimating, and gives you margin for being wrong. Even if you end up going over your 80% confidence estimate, you were only 80% confident in hitting that. It happens.
But as you go, you can work on dialing things in, so that you stay under your 80% confidence estimate roughly 80% of the time. You'll never be perfect.
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One of my favorite tips is to never give a single estimate: give two, a 50% confidence estimate and an 80% confidence estimate.
As a rule of thumb the 80% estimate can just be double the 50% estimate, though YMMV.
Doing it this way draws attention to the inherent inaccuracy of estimating, and gives you margin for being wrong. Even if you end up going over your 80% confidence estimate, you were only 80% confident in hitting that. It happens.
But as you go, you can work on dialing things in, so that you stay under your 80% confidence estimate roughly 80% of the time. You'll never be perfect.