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Always Multiply Your Estimates by π (2013)

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268 points behnamoh | 1 comments | 27 Sep 21 04:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.23s | source
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capableweb ◴[27 Sep 21 08:11 UTC] No.28668272[source]▶
This is good advice but forgets that people are part of how long time something will take as well. If it's one engineer, it'll probably take $estimation * π, but if it's two engineers, you probably need to double that. If it's three, triple it. New calculation should be something like "($estimation * π) * $peopleWorkingOnSameThing". Communication overhead and mistakes should not be underestimated.
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Aeolun ◴[27 Sep 21 08:33 UTC] No.28668394[source]▶
Wait, so you are saying that the net positive effect of adding an extra engineer is zero?
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1. capableweb ◴[27 Sep 21 08:42 UTC] No.28668455[source]▶
Yes, more engineers working on the same problem = slower time to actually releasing anything. Unless you can find a way to divide the task into parts that don't impede the others, adding more people will make things take longer time.