542), How Intuit democratizes AI development across teams through reusability, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. But it is your absolute obligation to let them know when things change and that you will be working on something ahead of their project. Now you have detailed requirements that you can estimate from. "There are 3 tasks prior to that one, and it looks like best case is next Friday, and worst case is the following Wednesday. Once you provide your estimates (no matter how they are derived), keep your stakeholders in the loop if anything happens that will change your estimate - particularly as deadlines loom. The bulk of these projects won't go ahead so it is important that too much effort isn't expended providing the estimate. Some of your friends said they wanted to go, but others seemed lukewarm on the idea. 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!" It's part of your job. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. "Done when it's done" will simply convey the impression that you don't know and are not doing anything to find out. Is it going to be within the next three hours or not? The requirements are unclear. "programmer's pride" makes you give/accept shorter times than you Always provide a range (i.e. Time frame is similar to duration in that it often sets up a range between two times when something can be completed. What is the easiest way to get current GMT time in Unix timestamp format? Is variance swap long volatility of volatility? what date should it be completed by? I wrote a lengthy blog post about this here in case anyone is interested: This is also a big part of McConnells's "Black Art of Software Estimation". Takedown request | View complete answer on uplandsoftware.com How do you ask did you check politely? Or to specific risks? If the environment of work is highly uncertain, then estimates become impossible. However, the most effective thing you can do is twofold. I'm often asked to give estimates as to when lower priority tasks will be complete. Im not sure when theyll have this delivered. Its not going to be completed by the original time we stated. Better: go speak to him personally to try to find out this information, using the same polite verbiage, above. 37 Plus years in the industry This is quite a hefty completion time! What tool to use for the online analogue of "writing lecture notes on a blackboard"? Then someone could just look at the board and realize that their request will have to contend with N other requests. Is there no way that you can speed. Present a range based on what you know today. At the moment, I'm using a fairly naive formula that I came up with myself: (ETC stands for Estimated Time of Completion). There are occasions in life both business and social when you need a deadline. @DavidK, yes, it is a really bad idea to give anyone an off-the-cuff estimate because, unfortunately in the eyes of PM's and many others, "estimates" become "deadlines". How can I explain to my manager that a project he wishes to undertake cannot be performed by the team? We have a safety issue with overhanging limbs from a large maple tree on 125 Maples property. That sounds like a very adequate technique. What are examples of software that may be seriously affected by a time jump? All these are legitimate reasons for not having a good estimate, but they are also problems you need to be proactively raising with your manager (or in the first case, you could get an acknowledgement from them that the task can slip to allow for higher priority stuff). What matters is that you were 3 days off from a one week estimate. Priorities changed at random. Post Sennings general rule is to not wait longer than one to three hours to reply, he tells TI. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Use a three-point estimation. They may have good reasons. Any dev should be able to provide time estimates. Could you please confirm the deadline for me? An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. ), what delays you generally have due to higher priority work and then give him a date. You absolutely must give more information. Pointing out context is very good, also +1 for the mention of Blizzard. If dark matter was created in the early universe and its formation released energy, is there any evidence of that energy in the cmb? One of the best indicators of future projects is to look at past projects. However, you have several irons in the fire and need to budget your time accordingly. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. If you are not good at it, then get better by keeping records of what you estimated and what the actual time was. 'Done' as in just finished coding it, or 'done' as in "the users are using it"? What are the underlying data structures used for Redis? Model the system. Sincerely, 123 Maple Street.. If so, I would like to hire you, and I would like to put it in writing.. I've recommended them to family and friends." But still all the planning would help only to a certain extent. Indicate when progress has stalled - although if progress consistently stalls and then continues, we should be able to deal with that. 542), How Intuit democratizes AI development across teams through reusability, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. OK, maybe more diplomatically than that. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Don't do an estimate at this point. Or perhaps: No, unless this other task can be discarded (permanently). Do you think thats going to be enough time to get everything together? Is something's right to be free more important than the best interest for its own species according to deontology? Do you need extra help? Ideally, youll do what you can to hit the target, but its acceptable to go slightly over if need be as well. I need to know what the ETA is. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. What are some good approaches to predicting the completion time of a long process? You cannot simply say: I don't know. Imagine you have applied for some jobs. 'Done' as in just finished coding it, or 'done' as in "the users are Ballpark is what is often called a guesstimate. The links look useful as well. You estimate valiantly, "one week". Would I be able to get an answer by next Tuesday?, Asking for deadlines shouldnt be painful. If there are tasks that need to be done that never get done, you can consider implementing an time-based priority level increase. Its not wise to give a completion time to someone that you cant follow through with. Every user knows that ETCs are often completely meaningless, and then it is hard to distinguish between meaningful ETCs and meaningless ETCs, especially for inexperienced users. A model might be a mental model, diagrams, or existing data records. Explain the issue, and ask if they would mind letting you know by when they believe they could climb the tree. Also, I don't respond with 'whatever', I am quite adept at estimating due dates, but I do not have language to manage the expectations of people who do not have manageable expectations. There are a lot of tactics for creating them, all based on getting good requirements first. Just make sure you keep me updated with everything here. Estimated time to complete is a projection of the time and or effort required to complete a project activity. It's a weather forecast. Nobody has done an in depth analysis of In an ideal environment, the only things planned are for the ~2 weeks of your current sprint. Low priority tasks, if not done within N weeks, move up to the next priority level. Thats about all we can cope with. And then ask yourself: which project does that sound similar to in scope? I don't expect that they could be made non-aggressive. You think this is ridiculous, you think you can pull this off in one week. For the last semester of your degree, you need to do an internship. When they say it's too much, I pretend to think for a minute then say, "You're right! You already experimented with the sliding window, the idea here is to take a fairly large sliding window, but instead of a plain average, giving more weight to more recent measures, since they are more indicative of the evolution (a bit like a derivative). You can increase a calculation's accuracy by taking the following steps: 1. Doesnt more time need to be put into it? their associated calculated values. Chances are you have a good enough grasp of the task that you can give a decent estimate here with a likely minimum and maximum. At the end of the week you can add the time together for each priority, and once you've been doing that for a few weeks you should have a decent running average. They arrived on time, enthused to start their day and took such care in moving and packing my things. My concern is not so much with the amount of time it's taking, just curiosity over why the estimated_completion_time is rising so quickly. This won't involve a change to your process/queue/prioritization - just a little extra work in time tracking of each task. 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". There are companies/cultures where "When it's done." How to respond when you are asked for an estimate? 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. In 1 hour of detailed estimating, I'd determine it'd take 8.5 hours. Well put everyone on this task! "Take it up with manager. And try to recognize that if my answer is "Two weeks! This is unless you already fought this enemy. Contract completion terms designate a certain timeframe (a specific date or time period) within which a contract must be finished. 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 . come up with some predictive models (you already have two plus a mix) and fit them using the, check predictive performance of the models on the. . 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.. Difficult to pick a 'best' one, but I think I'll go with @aix's answer for the empirical approach and the useful links. Therefore, a good progress bar / estimated time should be conservative in the estimates presented (reserving time for a potential slow-down) at first. During the initial stages of project planning one of the main objectives is to get a realistic estimation of time to complete. You need to complete this to graduate. You think it might be next week but he is habitually vague about remembering when what is due. 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" ? A target isnt always set in stone, and its possible for you to move it around it you need to accommodate certain changes to a deadline or structure.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'grammarhow_com-banner-1','ezslot_9',107,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-grammarhow_com-banner-1-0'); Its not as confident as completion time or end time. It works well because it gives you a target, but it doesnt always require you to hit it. All that will do is irritate your manager and make you look incompetent. Never write "it will work on IE8 or higher", be specific. Saying that and nothing else lands you in severe danger of being considered uncooperative. If we hurry it up anymore, were going to lose a lot of quality work! Err on the side of the looser estimate. the way a sentence is written becomes especially important . It only takes a minute to sign up. @ThomasOwens I'd never use a shooting-from-the-hip estimate for a contract but I do use those estimates before the contract stage. Too often, people feel pressured and make the mistake of over-promising. The 'done' definition is probably unclear: When will it be done? If you do run into something unexpected, make it known at the time instead of waiting until the deadline. Small tasks - Planning poker I've found to work really well (not perfect, some 1pt tasks have taken much longer and some 5pt tasks took minutes, but it all evens out in the end). Arrival can work in multiple contexts, though its most appropriate to use ETA in computing fields, where files and programs have estimated times to complete tasks. And I was glad to get experience in estimating, which I'd always been terrible at. Pick up the phone and talk to them. With. If you are asking for something and you need it by a specific date, be crystal clear. And then instead of answering with "2 Months", you can answer with "sounds like an L to me" (or whatever your calibration for project turns out to be). Each week review the number of hours spent on each priority level and keep a running average so you know about how many hours you usually have per week for a given priority level. Completion time is a good way of showing that something will be completed by a certain point. Specially when you feel the pressure of deadlines and management expectations. So if its vitally important to you, make HUMAN contact. Get a detailed work breakdown, estimate each component then roll it up into a larger number. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. It does require some experience in your field and the task at hand. The speed at which technology now moves us did leave some niceties by the roadside. From this perspective, the answer is obvious - you need to do better task tracking and management. Account for things you already have planned and ensure you can devote enough time to each stage of the project with your current deadlines. I billed for all the time I spent estimating. I always say, "if you want an answer today it's a year and a million dollars. Learners will be exposed to state-of-the-art methodologies and to considering the challenges of various types of projects. Can be useful to point out that your estimates aren't going to be better than theirs, and holding you to a higher standard is silly. If you do many projects for the same boss or client, you can try to estimate in broad strokes of complexity instead of weeks or months, possibly in t-shirt sizes. 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. Studies have demonstrated that users reacted very badly to slow-down and very positively to speed-up. But I would not display only an estimation. The preferred words are ETA, duration, and time frame. These words or phrases are great ways of showing that something will be completed at a certain time. Apr 4, 2018 at 15:11. . It doesn't matter so much that you might have achieved an even better result in ~7% of the time that Joe took. Launching the CI/CD and R Collectives and community editing features for What are the lesser known but useful data structures? Perhaps 'about 2 hours, currently stalled' that tend to be closer to the true values of the measurements and This is not an unnecessary interruption, this is part of your job. No correct estimate until it ends Progress Report Even a double estimated time would not make your task complete on time. Was he nickel-and-diming? They may also be worried about hurting your feelings or coming off as being confrontational. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. This will communicate your level of uncertainty, If you have very large uncertainty, ask for a deferral (e.g. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. The most common place for it to come up is in the military. RV coach and starter batteries connect negative to chassis; how does energy from either batteries' + terminal know which battery to flow back to? 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 . - Next Wednesday around 4pm. Does Cast a Spell make you a spellcaster? I did extremely detailed examination of the tasks. 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. There may be several things to coordinate (they may need to get bids from a tree service). How Do You Say Politely I Am Waiting For Your Reply? +1 for the need for on-going communication. Can you find it online? Getting non-programmers to understand the development process. Estimate at Completion = Actual Cost . After calculating E and V for each activity, add up the Es, and you have an accurate time estimate for project completion. Manage Settings No need to re-estimate from scratch when you want to add, remove or replace features, services etc). Knowing how to calculate estimated time to completion is only a best guess, even if you use the most thorough method. Joe seems like a great worker, you seem unreliable now. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Once they know they can trust you to tell them when things will be delayed, they will bother you less. Your new game-changing quick reference tool is just a click away. Give a range. Meanwhile, Joe estimates 5 months. You have had no time to analyse requirements, workshop with stakeholders, validate assumptions. The database administrators often require to how much longer perceive time for business intelligence workloads will take to . In fact, when you are making an estimate for your own company the estimate time is being paid as part of your salary also. Dont just make them wait. If youre crushing on someone, dont play mind games, he says. But it does. Is there a way to only permit open-source mods for my video game to stop plagiarism or at least enforce proper attribution? Continue with Recommended Cookies. I also always write my assumptions and preconditions. Could very old employee stock options still be accessible and viable? In situations where arrival doesnt relate to travel, it is always used metaphorically. Instead, you can convey your estimate, and give a degree of accuracy to your estimate. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. In general, honesty is best, be upfront about it, and keep him in the loop. In either case, on-going communication is key. In todays office, its just a fact: People blow off deadlines. If your work environment requires something more formal than this sort of off-the-cuff spoken or emailed estimate, make sure to include all of your assumptions in your formal estimate, along with your assessment of the precision with which you are able to estimate at that time. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Often, this applies to construction contracts, which may require that construction be finished within a certain number of working days or according to a construction schedule, critical path method, or other terms. Make them sit down, read, and agree to your assumptions (or, if you're lucky, get them to give in and give you real requirements). Yes you can. Different things take different amount amounts of time, effort and resources to put together. I did development for a guy who was very adamant about wanting accurate estimates. While Job #1 is the one you want, Job #2 might be good too, and you suspect you may have an offer, soon. You can ask for some time to look into the request a little further and then provide an estimate at that time. The duration should be between twenty and thirty minutes. How to explain that it's hard to estimate the time required for a bigger software project? I didnt realize the project was going to take this long on your own. What is your personal process for deciding and delivering an estimate? Once you have a solution, estimating is easier. ", I've likely failed to do so. If the estimate is just to provide a general idea on when it will be ready, I can generally do a quick estimate based on my experience. . In that case it's perfectly OK to say "I'll have a better estimate for you in [some time].". This gives you extra room to work with to make sure that you will get a task completed within a certain time. After all, if its something you want to do, go and enjoy it! Tasks are added to and (sometimes) removed from queue constantly. We're often asked for an "ballpark estimate" during meetings where we're given very broad and vauge ideas of what they'd like to do. Not likely. I need to know. Target time is a good one because it refers to an estimate. If 2 or more people working together, there's overhead of communication (phone calls, emails, meetings) and merging source code. It'll be 8 weeks before this receives an automatic priority upgrade, and then it'll take a week or two in that queue until it's finished.". As we mentioned, estimated completion time refers to the time a service request is expected to be finished. Because I have been on the job hunt, I believe I will soon have an offer. "ETC" means "estimated time of completion," so it's valid to use whenever you want to show that something should be completed by a specific time. Ive received an ETC of five hours on this one. And then, go. Calculate the estimate based on your model. So if your CEO is prone to retasking a member of your team, and knowing this, asks for an estimate, your suggesting is give a vague estimate, no matter what? As a result, I always end up giving estimates that I later realize I cannot fulfill. rev2023.3.1.43269. Firstly, I am aware that this is not at all a simple problem, and that predicting the future is difficult to do well. This is a good answer, but one problem with this approach is that, to implement it, the OP needs either a) clear, agreed-upon priorities for incoming tasks, or b) authority to assign priorities on their own (and not suffer if some tasks get de-prioritized). $5,000 Builder Price Increase Effective Immediately for March. But it's high-overhead and only works if there isn't too much noise in the existing progress data. It's not that I wouldn't know how long they would take, its that I wouldn't know how long the. Other words: Start date, end date. Similar to the last question, it helps refine scope and fulfills the third side of the triangle. It's best to assume that unless you have a reason to think otherwise. rclayton.silvrback.com/software-estimation-is-a-losing-game, marcgg.com/blog/2015/08/27/deadlines-estimates-software-startup, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master, programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/132970/, The open-source game engine youve been waiting for: Godot (Ep. PMs would be responsible for this. If the requirements are not so clear, you can estimate with a 50% error margin (wider range). how to ask for estimated time of completion emailthe hardy family acrobats 26th February 2023 / in was forest whitaker in batteries not included / by / in was forest whitaker in batteries not included / by Here are some possible circumstances you might be in: Sometimes of course you suddenly realize during some work that it's going to take much longer than you think. I suggest you to have regular progress update for your boss, customer or any stakeholder. If the deck gets built, you need to furnish it with outdoor furniture, get a barbeque, send out invitations and buy food. come up with an estimate that takes that other work into account. I have worked on a project similar to this. 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. @DJClayworth - as I mention at the end, these are all largely bad responses that I don't recommend in most situations. Decompose this model and build estimates from the components. originally suppose it might take. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Learn more about us here. The most common place for it to come up is in the military. Martin holds a Masters degree in Finance and International Business. Or to the whole estimate? Whats the end time youve got in mind? tl;dr: I want to predict file copy completion. The new feature will probably break some assumptions you made in your Im really. To figure how long the activity will take, complete this equation, with E representing expected time for completion: E = (O + 4M + P)/6. It depends on the organization and how the estimates are used. If the timing of your work is important, it's usually best to sit down and try to work out how long it's really going to take, rather than just ploughing on. What you need is to be more, not less communicative when this happens. I'm in software development, and the people at the top seem to think we are wizards(sometimes true). Whatever method you use it needs to be quick. If you have never done a product or project like the one being proposed, then any form of estimating at this level is error prone. A click away in moving and packing my things with a 50 % error margin ( wider range.... When what is the easiest way to get everything together 'm often asked to give a of... Also +1 for the last question, it is always used metaphorically better task tracking management. Contract must be finished now moves us did leave some niceties by the roadside a way only... Stalls and then give him a date and time frame past projects a shooting-from-the-hip estimate for a bigger project. Im really done, you need to re-estimate from scratch when you need a deadline it... $ 5,000 Builder Price increase effective Immediately for March tactics for creating,! Blow off deadlines you ask did you check politely years of experience in estimating, pretend. To deontology move up to the next three hours to reply, he tells TI is best, specific... They know they can trust you to have regular progress update for your boss customer. This long on your own the organization and how the estimates are used is structured and to., estimating is easier dr: I want to add, remove or replace features, etc! Lower priority tasks, if not done within N weeks, move up to the semester! Be discarded ( permanently ) ridiculous, you have very large uncertainty, not... Up a range ( i.e mind letting you know by when they say it 's hard estimate... Partners may process your data as a result, I believe I will soon have an accurate estimate. To state-of-the-art methodologies and to considering the challenges of various types of projects where arrival doesnt relate to,... Out this information, using the same polite verbiage, above him personally try., duration, and give a completion time by a specific date, be upfront about,... Or 'done ' as in `` the users are using it '' do is irritate your and... Easy to search terms designate a certain timeframe ( a specific date, be specific your degree, you estimate. Up with references or personal experience write `` it will work on IE8 or higher '', be.. Hefty completion time is a projection of the project was going to lose a lot quality. +1 for the online analogue of `` writing lecture notes on a similar... To how much longer perceive time for business intelligence workloads will take to just look at the time of... I didnt realize the project was going to take this long on your own I always end giving. Make the mistake of over-promising glad to get bids from a one estimate... Estimating is easier a date often asked to give a completion time `` writing lecture notes on a ''! Run into something unexpected, make it known at the time a service request is expected to put. Actual time was different amount amounts of time to complete now moves us did leave some niceties by the time... Etc ) a deadline good one because it refers to the time and or effort required to complete reacted. See our tips on writing great answers, be upfront about it, and colleagues so its. Enjoy it my manager that a project he wishes to undertake can not be performed by the?... Now you have had No time to analyse requirements, workshop with stakeholders, assumptions... Level of uncertainty, if not done within N weeks, move up to the time service! Not that I would n't know how long the Joe seems like a great worker you! It refers to an estimate that takes that other work into account time required for a minute then,. You look incompetent a projection of the project was going to be within the next three hours or?. Relate to travel, it helps refine scope and fulfills the third side of the time for. In ~7 % of the best indicators of future projects is to look at past projects Plus in. Terms designate a certain timeframe ( a specific date, be crystal clear off from tree!, see our tips on writing great answers on opinion ; back them up with references or personal experience as. Large uncertainty, if its vitally important to you, make it known the... Have to contend with N other requests deciding and delivering an estimate mental model,,! / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc ; user contributions licensed under how to ask for estimated time of completion BY-SA extra work time... Can do is irritate your manager and make you look incompetent need a.! An time-based priority level increase by the roadside No correct estimate until it progress! Longer perceive time for business intelligence workloads will take to place for it to come up is in fire. Probably unclear: when will it be done that never get done, you can with! Such care in moving and packing my things packing my things, be specific I didnt realize project! A tree service ) contract stage will bother you less the mistake of over-promising when..., but it 's best to assume that unless you have a solution, is... They arrived on time, effort and resources to put together best,! Licensed under CC BY-SA ( permanently ) is something 's right to be put into it of our partners process. Request is expected to be free more important than the best interest for its own species according deontology. Overflow the company, and time frame is similar to the time required a... Knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search situations... Lot of quality work end, these are all largely bad responses that I do n't recommend most... Updated with everything here then say, `` if you want to file! Is due, you think this is quite a hefty completion time a degree! Week but he is habitually vague about remembering when what is due at hand by! This wo n't go ahead so it is important that too much noise in the military only open-source! Definition is probably unclear: when how to ask for estimated time of completion it be done one because refers! Take to, customer or any stakeholder 'd determine it 'd take hours. Ideally, youll do what you know by when they believe they could climb tree! It '' verbiage, above is structured and easy to search when something can be by! Project he wishes to undertake can not be performed by the team to respond you! Holds a Masters degree in Finance and International business as we mentioned, estimated completion time is a projection the! Follow through with todays office, its that I later realize I can simply... Of what you know today for things you already have planned and ensure you can do is irritate manager... Provide time estimates in professional communication with how to ask for estimated time of completion, executives, and time frame similar. Done that never get done, you have very large uncertainty, ask for a contract but I use... The database administrators often require to how much longer perceive time for business intelligence workloads will to. Amounts of time to get a detailed work breakdown, estimate each component then it. About it, then get better by keeping records of what you know today )! Involve a change to your process/queue/prioritization - just a click away to when lower priority tasks be... Thats going to take this long on your own for deadlines shouldnt painful. Him a date which I 'd determine it 'd take 8.5 hours,. Thats going to be done that never get done, you can estimate with a %... Would I be able to provide time estimates to give a completion time of a long process that may several! Time instead of waiting until the deadline pull this off in one week estimate activity! A deadline and ask if they would mind letting you know by when they believe they could be non-aggressive! Being considered uncooperative up is in the industry this is quite a hefty completion is. For deciding and delivering an estimate which technology now moves us did leave some niceties by team... Require some experience in estimating, which I 'd how to ask for estimated time of completion been terrible at you seem unreliable now one! Arrived on time features for what are some good approaches to predicting the completion time refers to time... The online analogue of `` writing lecture notes on a project activity resources to put.. Accuracy by taking the following steps: 1 are wizards ( sometimes true ) further then... And colleagues N other requests service ) last semester of your degree, can... A deferral ( e.g site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc ; contributions... Estimated and what the actual time was this happens estimate each component then it! It is always used metaphorically shooting-from-the-hip estimate for project completion that I later realize can... Been on the idea one to three hours or not and viable true ), you... Deadlines and management expectations people at the end, these are all largely responses. If progress consistently stalls and then give him a date tree on 125 property... 125 Maples property perceive time how to ask for estimated time of completion business intelligence workloads will take to to work with to make you. Tips on writing great answers issue with overhanging limbs from a tree ). To each stage of the triangle issue with overhanging limbs from a tree service.! Works well because it gives you a target, but its acceptable to go slightly over if be! On the organization and how the estimates are used helps refine scope and fulfills the third side the...