Estimating timelines in software

As you get more senior, the more pressure you feel by timelines. You'll have to make more deadlines, and be more responsible for sticking to them. Having accurate timelines avoids stress and pressure from missing timelines.

Estimates are helpful for BMs and business leaders to plan a project and prioritise features. However, they still are at best, an informed guesstimate. Good estimates create trust, bad ones remove trust.

Four ways to become a better estimator:

1. Break the task into smaller pieces, and calculate those
2. Narrow the cone of uncertainty -> try to gain clarity on decisions as time progresses
3. Err on the side of overestimating
4. Back your estimates up with research -> spikes, prior art, etc.

[[career]] [[engineering]] [[timemanagement]]