How do you estimate time
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How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
I try not to give an estimate, but when pushed I say they should add six months to my estimate. This is based on experience, twice on a former job I gave an estimate: In the first case, it turned out that a few systems we had been using turned out not to be Y2K-compliant so we had to get new systems, I had to learn to use them, and alter our code to use them. In the second case, I thought that I could just drop some code into a new client's codebase (just as I always had), only to find that they were not using OpenVMS and Oracle PRO*C, but had instead opted for Windows NT and SQL Server (with ODBC X| ).
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How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
I'm actually glad you asked this question. This will help me as well. I've never been able to honestly estimate time. When I started working for the client I'm with at the moment, they repeatedly ask about how long I think some things may take, and I never really have an answer.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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I'm out of here bye. Will deactivate my account :~
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
Please ask the admins to re-activate your account; OriginalGriff was just joking, as he said here[^]
The quick red ProgramFOX jumps right over the
Lazy<Dog>. My latest article: Create an HTML5 (and JavaScript) Maze Game with a timer My group: C# Programmers Group -
How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
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I'm out of here bye. Will deactivate my account :~
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
محمد م. محمد wrote:
I'm out of here bye.
O.G. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Unfortunately, the lad must live in a rather oppressive part of the world...either that or does not understand Welsh humour (not that anyone really does, but I digress :-D ) Ken
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i thougt 50. using your formula i calculated 156... now i´m thinking about the measure... is it minutes, hours or what? :^) finally, i chose "days"... quite relaxing for me, but not for the Manager... :-\
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Evidence Based Scheduling[^] :)
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
+5 :thumbsup: great article.... whenever i was asked how long does x take i felt like i´m having my back on the wall... :| X| :~
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i thougt 50. using your formula i calculated 156... now i´m thinking about the measure... is it minutes, hours or what? :^) finally, i chose "days"... quite relaxing for me, but not for the Manager... :-\
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A slightly serious answer. Split it down into easily manageable task. Estimate each task. If the estimate is less than 1/2 day, round up to 1/2 day IF the estimate is greater than 2 days, split it into smaller tasks. Add the total. Multiply by 2 if I am doing it, or three if someone else (not because I am better but because there needs to be additional time for them to interpret, and for contingency if I missed anything) Round up to the nearest week or day depending how big it is. Add a couple of days for contingency. Present the estimate. Be prepared to negotiate. Note my time as I develop against each of the tasks - so next time I will be able to estimate better.
MVVM # - I did it My Way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
When I was working for a machine tool company in Dorset, we were all trained in the Carnegie Mellon University 'PSP' scheme. PSP stands for Personal Software Process. During the course we wrote our own statistical analysis apps and applied them recursively to the work. The PSP yielded lots of very interesting stats about our individual performances, but in particular it revealed nuggets such as spending more time on detail design reduced bug fixing, particularly in testing phase. Testing bugs take (if I remember) 5 times longer to fix than Compile bugs. In addition to exposing and improving the way you work, PSP builds a database of your performance which is your property(between jobs too), and provides a statistically significant estimate of future performance of jobs. You can use this to provide management with a probably accurate estimate. If you're really serious about this, I'd recommend:cool: PSP.
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How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
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Evidence Based Scheduling[^] :)
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
Yet another reason to get FogBugz
Politicians are always realistically manoeuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers. Buckminster Fuller
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i thougt 50. using your formula i calculated 156... now i´m thinking about the measure... is it minutes, hours or what? :^) finally, i chose "days"... quite relaxing for me, but not for the Manager... :-\
Clodetta del Mar wrote:
is it minutes, hours or what?
All of them: 156 hours, 156 minutes, and 156 "what?" (although I'm sure your manager will helpfully provide most of those ;) )
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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When I was working for a machine tool company in Dorset, we were all trained in the Carnegie Mellon University 'PSP' scheme. PSP stands for Personal Software Process. During the course we wrote our own statistical analysis apps and applied them recursively to the work. The PSP yielded lots of very interesting stats about our individual performances, but in particular it revealed nuggets such as spending more time on detail design reduced bug fixing, particularly in testing phase. Testing bugs take (if I remember) 5 times longer to fix than Compile bugs. In addition to exposing and improving the way you work, PSP builds a database of your performance which is your property(between jobs too), and provides a statistically significant estimate of future performance of jobs. You can use this to provide management with a probably accurate estimate. If you're really serious about this, I'd recommend:cool: PSP.
Thanks for mentioning this. I have made lots of estimates over the years but am still not very good at it. I've never tried actually analyzing the data though - will look at this shortly.
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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My technique isn't too far from that:
- Take a wild-ass guess at the time it would take if I were certain the requirements were firm and that there would be no interruptions while I'm working on it;
- Double the number;
- Promote the unit to the next higher value.
So if I figure I could knock it out in an hour under "ideal" conditions, I estimate "2 days." If my wild-ass guess is two weeks, I submit an estimate of "4 months." And so forth.
The remarkable thing about this approach, which I first suggested as a gag of sorts, is that it's proved to be pretty reliable in practice -- seldom more than about 10% from the actual time required, and never more than 25% off. Somehow it accounts flexibly for requirements changes, imposition of unanticipated constraints, distractions and interruptions, and acts of God. There's a lesson in there, somewhere...
(This message is programming you in ways you cannot detect. Be afraid.)
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How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
(MyEstimation + 15%)*2, well, ±...
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Richard MacCutchan wrote:
Think of a number, add 2 and multiply by 3.
After giving it some Deep Thought, I'll start with 12. :rolleyes:
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
Usually I take a guess at first using the spec completeness and complexity and then I multiply by 2 or 3 depending on my knowledge of both the code and the architecture. How else do you expect to be seen as a miracle worker === Scotty STNG :laugh:
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(MyEstimation + 15%)*2, well, ±...
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How do you estimate time fir writing code? If your manager ask you to give him a time for something to be done?
My Name in English[^] Translation done By OriginalGriff
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Experience. It's not an exact science - it's guess work based on "how long this took me last time" plus a bit of "how accurate and complete is the spec?" with a soupcon of "what else do I have to do at the same time?" and some extra "padding time to make me look good". Occasionally there is also "How much am I being paid for this?" and "how much do I like this guy and want to do this?" Complex. So about 8.73 working days, probably.
