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"No, it's less effort than that"

(smartguess.is)
388 points replyifuagree | 1 comments | 21 Oct 23 04:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.203s | source
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zeroCalories ◴[21 Oct 23 09:45 UTC] No.37965404[source]▶
Management has to push for lower estimates because developers have an incentive to overestimate to make life easier. The only situation where this isn't a problem is with eager junior devs, and devs that have direct skin in the game, such as at startups or a department about to be cut for being unprofitable.
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1. phanimahesh ◴[21 Oct 23 09:53 UTC] No.37965441[source]▶
Also any estimate providedwill be pushed downwards, not to mention unforeseen curveballs, so there is an incentive to estimate higher to preserve your own sanity. Some don't learn to estimate higher until they get burnt.

Another common pitfall is to estimate each task in isolation, and the people receiving the estimates considering them timelines. Effort estimates and delivery timelines are wildly different beasts and great care has to be taken to avoid miscommunications.