Jimmy Wales wrote:
I think we all know that when a programmer says 1 week, it means 2, and when a programmer says 70 lines of code, it really means 140! :-)
For awhile, I tried to defeat this mysterious law of nature by doubling my own estimates before I told anyone. Didn't help, because it still is true that whatever you promise someone, the actuality is twice as bad!
If I think "this will take a week" and so double it and promise it in two weeks, then it takes 4.
;-)
Then there is the other tactic: If you think that something will take a week, promise it in three days. If you think it will take 70 lines of code promise 35. Of course, no matter what you do, your credibility will be in question. ;-)
In the same class of laws of human nature, if you need a quorum for a meeting at 8:00 p.m. announce the starting time for that meeting as a half-hour earlier.. :-)
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