Everything takes 2 weeks
“So, how long will that take?” Is a question that some of us have grown to hate. And it seems that it is a question, that in various forms, we are asked daily. (If not more frequently) And if you have been doing this for any time, you have probably come up with a way to answer these questions. There was a time when I started answering this question with a standard answer of, “2 weeks.” And let me explain why.
My Answer:
First, let me just say that my answer was really, “40 hours or 2 calendar weeks.” When asked if I could do it in 40 hours but in one week, I would say, “No.” and explain that I always had interruptions and other priorities to juggle. There was never a time that I could only focus on just one issue for a whole week. Thus it would not make sense to give them the expectation that I could be done in a week, even if the actual hours worked on project was 40 hours.
Second, let me say that these where all mapping change requests, or new document mapping requests. I am extremely good at this, and have a system for keeping things simple and effective. You can read more about that by reading some of my mapping posts here. And following that system, I could pull of a changed or new map in 2 weeks with confidence.
When asked if I was sure that it wouldn’t take longer, I would shrug and say, “It never has before.” Well not a detailed justification for my time spent, this was an expression of confidence to get my time estimate accepted and put on the plan.
Other Answers:
There are many ways to come up with a time estimate. I took a class once, that discussed project planning and explained Gantt charts and time lines. I had been using versions of these for years without knowing they had a name. I called mine a “white board” but I did learn the lingo of projects that was useful when communicating with other how your time line is looking.
Project Planning is a great skill to have, but don’t get carried away. Lots of time can be spent on making a project plan instead of actually working. When you are working as a lone ranger, or small team, extensive planning can actually get in the way.
Team Work:
One of the things that let me get away with the “2 Week” time estimate was that I was the only one doing what I was doing. Its not that I am anti social, it just that I was the only one left from what was once a team of 6. I was helping support the product, building new features, and writing my own requirements based on tickets and user/manager responses. And not having to coordinate with other people made me much much faster. (but of course you have to know what you are doing to pull this off)
I remember sitting in a meeting with a group of developers. They had been working on an integration process for 6 months and were still months away from completion. I remember feeling really sorry for them when I realised that my boss had asked me to produce an integration solution for the same thing they had been working on. Without knowing their situation, I responded with my 2 week estimate.
Well, they were floored, and didn’t believe I could do it. I did, and they realised why. I didn’t have team meetings, (it was just me). I didn’t follow their coding standards and review processes, (not having to teach a team about what I had just done). I had a test system that looked just like production that I built on, (they had a dev system, that all of their projects were being built on. And this meant they were always in each others way.)
In the end, (after I had done it my way) they redeveloped it in their way and the project got completed.
This is not a knock on teams. Teams are important to have. But sometimes it is smarter and faster, just to give a guy a direction, and then get out of his way. Teams help with stability and code longevity, but they can slow the process of creation down. And the bigger the team, the slower it can go.
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December 10th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I got to use that two week estimate some time. They are always asking me to cost changes to our system. The strange thing is that these estimates hardly ever translate to actual time scheduled in for the job.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
There is a parable about a Sheik digging a well in the Oasis.
He was told, that digging a well with 1 worker would take 3 weeks. His brilliant idea was to use 3 workers to dig the well in 1 week. That didnt work too well.
Seems you cant squeeze 3 men into 1 man hole.
Quite appropriate to the “2 Week” guesstimate.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:13 am
smater -> smarter
December 11th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Bob,
I haven’t heard that parable, but I have a friend that used to use the analogy of having a baby. It goes like this;
“It takes 1 woman 9 months to have 1 baby. But putting 9 women on the job does not get you 1 baby in 1 month.”
The obvious meaning is that having more people doing a task sometimes just means you have more people, not getting anything done faster or better.
Roy