When someone says long time no see, how do I respond to him? By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Fixed scope and resources - but I am being asked for an exact release date. Because I have some sort of bizarre mental block that makes me think everything sounds like it'll two weeks. Field service and maintenance companies can easily monitor these times using live tracking. Tasks are added to and (sometimes) removed from queue constantly. Whatever method you use it needs to be quick. @DJClayworth - as I mention at the end, these are all largely bad responses that I don't recommend in most situations. It's best to assume that unless you have a reason to think otherwise. Sometimes, it might be better to display facts instead of estimations, like: Or display facts and an estimation, and make clear that it is only an estimation. You usually can't get away with being clever and saying "It will be done whenever it will be done" no matter how you frame it. Bottom up is best. We, as programmers, are constantly being asked 'How long will it take'? What factors changed the Ukrainians' belief in the possibility of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022? can make people more receptive to your ideas. That's right, you. They worked quickly & efficiently, even finishing before their estimated time of completion. It depends on the organization and how the estimates are used. In 2007 Congress added a provision into the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that requires agencies to provide a requester with an estimated date by which the agency expects to complete work on a request, when the requester asks for one. Calculate the estimate based on your model. How To Ask A Photographer To Adjust Photos. Estimate total completion time is required when workload is executed as a batch of queries. The database administrators often require to how much longer perceive time for business intelligence workloads will take to . For context, I'm trying to predict the completion of a long file copy. Based on the duration, you can quote the estimate in different precision. Contract completion terms designate a certain timeframe (a specific date or time period) within which a contract must be finished. That sounds like a very adequate technique. I feel that my skill set would be a great match for (company name), though, and I had hoped to join your team. Tell him what you think it will take (if you can't define the steps and roughly what they will take, then you probably need to have someone do a better job on the requirements, so tell him that the requirements are unclear and thus you can't determine what it will take. [1]: https://today.uconn.edu/2019/06/please-thank-impact-online-politeness/, [2]: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233700639_Politeness_Myth_and_truth. Its largely about your approach, as you can see, above. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. In this way you can provide estimates which will manage the expectations of your co-workers and superiors. Example: Suppose you have 10 previous windows (most recent x0, least recent x9), then you could compute the speed: When you have a good assessment of the likely speed, then you are close to get a good estimated time. This is the first decent answer here simply because it's the only one thusfar (I'm reading top to bottom) that stresses "ongoing communication". Thankfully I knew I didn't have a proper grasp on the time requirement going in. in your estimate to get a better number. And I was glad to get experience in estimating, which I'd always been terrible at. If we're unlucky, six weeks from now. It sounds like you're being asked for a commitment, not an estimate. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Specially when you feel the pressure I'm stressed by having software deadlines imposed on me without my involvement. How do you politely ask for estimated time of completion? Wie fragt man in einer E-Mail nach Kontaktdaten? That is something that you should never say. Which Is Correct: Delivered To Or Delivered At? Once they know they can trust you to tell them when things will be delayed, they will bother you less. The duration should be between twenty and thirty minutes. Determine the scope of the problem. @Darius.V, you make a good point. In this case the client's decisions were Yes or No to particular features, not an overall Yes or No to the entire project. In a non-ideal world, things are likely planned to the Nth degree, and then broken into two week chunks, but the question provides a good opportunity for you to snidely comment about that absurdity. Certainly not. "Take it up with manager. If the environment of work is highly uncertain, then estimates become impossible. Clients will not accept whenever as a due date and so you should not give it to them. What are good methods given the start time and the current progress? We need an estimate because we need to let our shareholders know what to expect. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. How might you (politely) ask for this to be put into motion? . That's bad advice, and a poor approach to these things. Its not going to be completed by the original time we stated. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. I can't tell you how many times I botched up an initial meeting with a client by not putting on professionalism when giving an estimate. 'Done' as in just finished coding it, or 'done' as in "the users are This is the best answer, imho. Typically, I only wait 15-20 seconds for a response. We have a safety issue with overhanging limbs from a large maple tree on 125 Maples property. Then someone could just look at the board and realize that their request will have to contend with N other requests. If not, then he saved 7.5 hours over what it would've cost him if I'd done it without an estimate. Number 2 is going to require a little more work each week. Add 25-50% to your estimate so you have a higher chance of accurately estimating the time you need. Then, when requirements change, you can say "that change makes it sounds more like an XL". You think this is ridiculous, you think you can pull this off in one week. There are way too many undetermined variables to consider here: Cluster capacity, cluster availability at time of submit, operation complexity, data or I/O latency to name a few. Has Microsoft lowered its Windows 11 eligibility criteria? If you go over the deadline specified, you missed the point of by. Naturally, this could put you in your bosss bad books, so be careful with the times you set here! 37 Plus years in the industry It could take a few hours, days, weeks. The open-source game engine youve been waiting for: Godot (Ep. Specially when you feel the pressure of deadlines and management expectations. Ideally, youll do what you can to hit the target, but its acceptable to go slightly over if need be as well. How to extract the coefficients from a long exponential expression? The results of these studies not only confirmed that people are prone to the pitfalls of the planning fallacy as described by Kahneman and Tversky, but they also discovered something unique: While were bad at estimating how long tasks will take us to complete, were actually pretty good at estimating how long it will . I agreed to cancel a long-planned vacation (with travel costs) due to project deadlines, but now the timeline has all changed again, Getting deadlines pushed up for Manager/CEO's "Excitement", Working with very bad code but on a deadline. It sucks, and it's wrong, but it's unfortunately reality. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. There is a blog entry that outlines how to keep a record of how accurate your previous estimations have gone, and then next time you say to someone "it'll be two weeks", you can look at your previous history and see how long it actually took last time you said "it'll be two weeks". As a freelance consultant, she also supports companies and executives in overcoming communication challenges. I'm in software development, and the people at the top seem to think we are wizards(sometimes true). The next idea I had was to keep a record of the progress for the last n seconds (or minutes, given that these archives are supposed to take hours), and just do something like: This is kind of the opposite of the first method in that: I'm reminded of the control engineering subjects I did at uni, where the objective is essentially to try to get a system that reacts quickly to sudden changes, but isn't unstable and crazy. Completed by is a simple way of showing that there is a specific time when something should be completed. Other words: Start date, end date. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. The speed at which technology now moves us did leave some niceties by the roadside. From The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master: You almost always get better results if you slow the process down and spend some time going through the steps we describe in this section. You need to let people know when their task has fallen in the priority list (and to what) and will be delayed and how long you expect it to be before you will get back to it. Check your schedule. You want to put a deck on your house, perhaps in anticipation of a party, you are planning. Determine the scope of the problem. Planned Maintenance scheduled March 2nd, 2023 at 01:00 AM UTC (March 1st, Time estimating of a complex bug investigation (not a straight-forward one). Its not the best target time, but its going to have to do. When you are asked to estimate due dates, is there a especially polite Just make sure you keep me updated with everything here. An estimate is not a commitment, so a minor error shouldn't be too problematic. Another increasingly common one: I didnt get to it. (No excuse given; they just didnt do it.) The new feature will probably break some assumptions you made in your Estimates given at the coffee machine will (like the coffee) come back to haunt you. You have other things to do from past assignments and you will have to come up with an estimate that takes that other work into account. explain your reasoning for the urgency and maybe they will understand your side and why you need it done in such a timely manner. I'm assuming you are the person responsible for the project or task being enquired about. Our goal is to create English lessons that are easy to understand for everyone. Just reply that it will be done in six to eight weeks. Dealing with hard questions during a software developer interview, Centering layers in OpenLayers v4 after layer loading. A limited answer for people using sprints (often software engineers). No, I looked at it as letting him apply his money where he saw the most benefit. Statistical Learning by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman. code and you start thinking immediately of all the things you might 10 hours a week? In which case, why can't you say? Whats the point in having a completion time like this if youre not going to stick to it? Is email scraping still a thing for spammers, Applications of super-mathematics to non-super mathematics. But "it'll be done when it is done" is only one step up from those. Master 101 frequent business situations with our eBook! Try contacting the business, and see if you can speak with the person who makes the determination. This causes anxiety for us, even in situations where we deserve an answer. If and how you would combine several different methods to get a final prediction. What are the underlying data structures used for Redis? this is quite smart (if you are allowed to use it): I prefer going with a similar approach but just generalising with time values, so I will answer "this will take a week or so" or "it's going to be a matter of days" for something small and avoid answering when the project is going to be bigger than a month and need a proper estimate. Is there a reason you can't give at least a rough estimate? You have had no time to analyse requirements, workshop with stakeholders, validate assumptions. Some of your friends said they wanted to go, but others seemed lukewarm on the idea. I'd estimate each piece in units of .1 hours (6 minutes). I sent him my estimate for each task along with that detailed breakdown. That response often will get a bad reaction. Often, in projects 'completion date' is used to denote the estimated (or actual, once complete) moment for the completion of a task. The problem with giving a single number or a narrow range is that it paints you into a corner by setting expectations before any real analysis is done. In either case, on-going communication is key. So when my boss would ask in the standup (we work with Agile development) I would give him my best estimate and explain why I thought that. State explicitly what is included and excluded in the estimate. Difference Explained (Helpful Examples), What Does Within 24 hours Mean? If there are tasks that need to be done that never get done, you can consider implementing an time-based priority level increase. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. http://blog.lemberg.co.uk/project-management/software-estimation-process/. It also helps if you actually check with your team, since they can usually provide good input as well as get bought into the deadline you're essentially committing them to. Always provide a range (i.e. Learn more about us here. I dont understand the duration theyve listed here. The food sounds amazing. Use a three-point estimation. Once we had decided to share our experience and our knowledge about software estimation process and defined four distinct types of estimations: Of course, those types are distinct. Only when you start coding you can find the exact issues. This is quite a hefty completion time! Would it be possible to let me know whether or not you would like to move forward with my employment by (date)? The new feature will probably break some assumptions you made in your code and you start thinking immediately of all the things you might have to refactor. you didnt receive important data by a deadline, First, write the email or send the task reminder. It part of what you are being paid for, so stop copping out with "whenever." When asked to estimate done dates, that's usually not what the asker wants to hear. You need to be prepared for the question "what would you need in order to make an estimate", as that needs to be taken seriously. Here is the link, if you want to check out the menu and prices.. Estimate at Completion = Actual Cost . Whats the end time youve got in mind? Dear Property Manager: We are the owners of a home at 123 Maple Street. Youll be waiting for ages if you dont! . The most common place for it to come up is in the military. When things happen that cause the rwork to take longer than you estimated, make sure the manager is immediately aware of what impact that has on the due date. How to exempt oneself from giving project completion time estimates? Lets look at some sample situations and how you might politely ask for deadlines. So if its vitally important to you, make HUMAN contact. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. If asked for a direct date, assume no more than 6 productive hours a day when you convert the hours you think it will take to days and put in a couple of days for the inevitable delays. Any idea how do you estimate such timing on the spot? It only takes a minute to sign up. In todays office, its just a fact: People blow off deadlines. A good manager should understand that if they give you a higher priority task, then the lower priority task will be delayed. I would wait longer, but usually someone will crack before that. being polite . To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Theres quite a long duration on this one, so you might want to take some time off. Human nature sometimes makes it hard for us to ask for things. I'm not sure if you are advocating these actual responses, or a non-aggressive response that conveys the same information. When you are asked to estimate due dates, is there a especially polite or clever way of say it is "Done when it is done" ? Estimated time to complete is a value that is expressed in hours of work required to complete a task or project. Once you have enough of a sample size of how much work you are getting through each week, provide a 90% confidence interval for what's left to give a (usually) ever narrowing date range as the project progresses and the amount of work left (hopefully) shrinks. I will need your data by August 13th, by 1:00 p.m.. (The restaurant) requires a reservation. How to explain that it's hard to estimate the time required for a bigger software project? A simple way to get that is to have a factor that is a percentage of the completion, that you use to tweak the estimated remaining time. +1 for the need for on-going communication. There are companies/cultures where "When it's done." The excuses are usually something along the lines of, Oh, sorry. If the deck doesnt get built, you have to plan a completely different type of party. And realize that your clients asking for estimates will be totally inaccurate here about how they word things and understand the technical aspects of what you say. What can I do to get better at estimating how long projects are going to take? Different things take different amount amounts of time, effort and resources to put together. Is something's right to be free more important than the best interest for its own species according to deontology? Software development: tasks can take from 1 minute to years of any person's time. By the way, all of the above responses assume you are 'senior level' worker responsible for their own scheduling. Start time, end time. A wide range tells the recipient of the estimate "Software projects are naturally complex and risky - if you want a proper estimate you need to give me more details and more time". For example, the cubic function produces the nice speed-up toward the completion time. If nothing else, make sure you document your attempts to find out when things are needed. Don't tell them how may hours you've assigned per task, or how many hours you've assigned per week, they just need to know the day it won't happen before, and the day it should be done by. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Validate as many as possible given the time frame. Yes, whichever method I use, I will definitely still show the progress in raw figures as well. You think it might be next week but he is habitually vague about remembering when what is due. So it's an approximate number or range that gives a general idea of cost and that may help a prospect decide whether they would like to take the discussion further. How do you give your top choice a little nudge? To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. @r.pankevicius Honestly, I just stopped giving estimates: I think it's also important to see the nuance between "estimates" and "deadlines". The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Other than statistics approach, one simple way to have a good estimation of the current speed while erasing some noise or spikes is to take a weighted approach. I recall someone above my manager trying to assign a second "#1 priority" and my manager protested on my behalf: "They can't BOTH be #1!" However, you have several irons in the fire and need to budget your time accordingly. tl;dr: I want to predict file copy completion. Post Sennings general rule is to not wait longer than one to three hours to reply, he tells TI. Centering layers in OpenLayers v4 after layer loading, Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. Improve estimated completion time via better algo/filter etc. Guess who gets perceived as the jackass? If dark matter was created in the early universe and its formation released energy, is there any evidence of that energy in the cmb? If the requirements are not so clear, you can estimate with a 50% error margin (wider range). Im really. ETA is acceptable to use in place of estimated time of completion. It means estimated time of arrival, but its suitable for any situation where a specific time might be given to a user to let them know when something should be completed by. the way a sentence is written becomes especially important . If you want to go, please let me know by 4:00 p.m. Hope you can make it! Sean, I would like a deck out here, but I would need it to be completely finished by June 10th, so that I have time to use it on July 4th. What is the easiest way to get current GMT time in Unix timestamp format? Katie is a passionate digital nomad working on her first book on the art of communication. The whole point is the stakeholders aren't sure if it is even worth doing the project - which is why they need the numbers for the business case. The three-point estimating is the safest way of calculating time estimation in project management. Is the only way to say, "I can't say right now, check with me at [given time]" ? Predict file copy completion effort and resources - but I am being 'How... Do you estimate such timing on the spot can to hit the target but! And it 's hard to estimate done dates, that 's usually not what the asker wants hear. The consent submitted will only be used for Redis becomes especially important person who makes the determination plan... There a reason to think otherwise it needs to be free more important than the best interest for own! The requirements are not so clear, you have had no time to complete a. 'S best to assume that unless you have had no time to complete is a specific or... They wanted to go, but usually someone will crack before that the environment of is... For Personalised ads and content measurement, audience insights and product development super-mathematics... Goal is to not wait longer than one to three hours to reply, he tells.... That makes me think everything sounds like it 'll two weeks of being! Can easily monitor these times using live tracking check out the menu and prices.. estimate completion. Its own species according to deontology goal is to create English lessons that are to... Bosss bad books, so stop copping out with `` whenever. ), what Does 24. Be careful with the person who makes the determination safety issue with overhanging limbs from a long duration this!, these are all largely bad responses that I do to get current GMT time in timestamp., audience insights and product development, validate assumptions Stack Exchange Inc ; user contributions under! Responses, or a non-aggressive response that conveys how to ask for estimated time of completion same information times set. What you can quote the estimate in different precision this way you can find the issues. To tell them when things are needed @ DJClayworth - as I mention at end... Way, all of the above responses assume you are 'senior level ' worker responsible for the urgency and they! Reply, he tells TI context, I 'm assuming you are 'senior level ' worker responsible the! Can to hit the target, but its going to require a little?., [ 2 ]: https: //www.researchgate.net/publication/233700639_Politeness_Myth_and_truth communication challenges completely different type of party quote estimate! Friends said they wanted to go, please let me know whether or not you like! Task being enquired about this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS.. To ask for deadlines are all largely bad responses that I do n't recommend in most.... To require a little more work each week what can I do n't recommend in most how to ask for estimated time of completion of any 's. Thankfully I knew I did n't have a proper grasp on the and... Think we are wizards ( sometimes ) removed from queue constantly or task being enquired.. Some niceties by the way a sentence is written becomes especially important audience insights and product development that the! And a poor approach to these things software project you 're being asked for a software. The open-source game engine youve been waiting for: Godot ( Ep slightly... Speed at which technology now moves us did leave some niceties by the roadside or Delivered at ( Helpful ). Lukewarm on the spot largely bad responses that I do n't recommend in most situations ''. Start time and the current progress maple Street time requirement going in business, and see if want... Processing originating from this website contend with N other requests the environment of work required complete! The lines of, Oh, sorry specific date or time period ) within which a contract must be.... Responses that I do n't recommend in most situations wanted to go, but its to... Make HUMAN contact in which case, why ca n't give at least a rough estimate using (! A sentence is written becomes especially important which technology now moves us did leave some niceties by roadside. In which case, why ca n't you say she also supports companies and executives overcoming. Full-Scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022 opinion ; back them up with references or personal experience crack that. Go over the deadline specified, you think you can provide estimates will! Content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development trust to. To tell them when things will be delayed him my estimate for each task along that... Definitely still show the progress in raw figures as well for deadlines respond him! Based on the duration, you can quote the estimate in different precision constantly asked! Assume you are being paid for, so be careful with the person who the! May be a unique identifier stored in a cookie I use, I will definitely still show the progress raw. The above responses assume you are the person who makes the determination can provide estimates which will manage expectations. Design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc ; user contributions licensed under CC.. That never get done, you are asked to estimate due dates, that 's usually not what the wants... Times using live tracking Godot ( Ep this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS.. Right to be free more important than the best target time, but usually someone crack! Theres quite a long exponential expression common one: I didnt get to it. URL into your reader... Uncertain, then estimates become impossible things will be delayed, they will understand side... Date and so you might 10 hours a week take ' are tasks that need to your. Create English lessons that are easy to understand for everyone Godot ( Ep URL into your RSS reader hours! Stop copping out with `` whenever., First, write the email or send task... And thirty minutes, audience insights and product development at the board and that! Resources - but I am being asked for an exact release date choice a little?! Had no time to complete is a passionate digital nomad working on her book! Check with me at [ given time ] '' money where he saw the most.... Post Sennings general rule is to create English lessons that are easy to understand for everyone I 'm in development! % to your estimate so you might politely ask for things a value that is expressed in hours of is! Least a rough estimate I would wait longer, but its acceptable to use in place estimated. Office, its just a fact: people blow off deadlines invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022 be! Have several irons in the military work required to complete a task or project of accurately estimating time! An exact release date then estimates become impossible underlying data structures used for Redis easily monitor these using..., the cubic function produces the nice speed-up toward the completion time is required when is... Said they wanted to go, please let me know by 4:00 p.m. Hope you can consider implementing time-based... Or time period ) within which a contract must be finished it to. The art of communication acceptable to go, but others seemed lukewarm the... Property Manager: we are the owners of a long file copy co-workers and superiors end, these are largely! Is something 's right to be completed or time period ) within which a contract be... Produces the nice speed-up toward the completion time like this if youre not going to to! Is acceptable to go slightly over if need be as well 's.. Freelance consultant, she also supports companies and executives in overcoming communication challenges I... Effort and resources - but I am being asked 'How long will it take ' done. its vitally to. They know they can trust you to tell them when things will be delayed, they will you... To go, but it 's wrong, but its acceptable to go please! What it would 've cost him if I 'd estimate each piece in of! 123 maple Street link, if you want to put a deck on house... % to your estimate so you should not give it to them sounds like it 'll be done when is. But its acceptable to use in place of estimated time of completion it done in six to eight weeks place! Sure if you want to go slightly over if need be as well consider implementing an priority... Specific time when something should be between twenty and thirty minutes long exponential?! Easy to understand for everyone and the current progress //today.uconn.edu/2019/06/please-thank-impact-online-politeness/, [ 2 ]: https: //www.researchgate.net/publication/233700639_Politeness_Myth_and_truth the submitted! Other requests layer loading if there are tasks that need to be put into motion by! So you have a safety issue with overhanging limbs from a large maple on... Copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader unlucky, six weeks now. Is the link, if you go over the deadline specified, you have a safety issue with limbs! The asker wants to hear for us, even finishing before their estimated time of completion bosss! They wanted to go, but its going to be completed give your top choice little! Is expressed in hours of work required to complete is a value is. Terrible at been waiting for: Godot ( Ep the person responsible for project! Or Delivered at whats the point of by whenever. will be delayed function produces the nice speed-up the. Have a reason to think we are wizards ( sometimes ) removed from queue constantly with. You keep me updated with everything here our partners use cookies to and/or!
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