how to ask for estimated time of completion

If nothing else, make sure you document your attempts to find out when things are needed. What factors changed the Ukrainians' belief in the possibility of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022? If you are not good at it, then get better by keeping records of what you estimated and what the actual time was. They worked quickly & efficiently, even finishing before their estimated time of completion. How do you get your contractor to respond with a deadline? A newly proposed product or project will be similar (in size) to one or more already completed products or projects. Wie sagt man hflich Ich warte auf Ihre Antwort? Will be great if someone could share some experience on the above example if he/she did it. 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. I asked you to have it done and on my desk. Welcome to Grammarhow!We are on a mission to help you become better at English. It's important to remember what an estimate is- a guess in many cases. 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). As you can see, you first need to calculate the Schedule Performance Index and Cost Performance Index. So, in your opinion, it is never acceptable to say an accurate estimate cannot be made? If your projects are suffering because you didnt receive important data by a deadline, how do you handle it? It relates to something that can arrive when it is completed, but it does not have to travel anywhere physically. @DJClayworth does it help you in any way if you get told an arbitrary date, you make plans based on that date, and on that date find out the reality of "it will be done when it's done"? Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. If at this point, you still get blown off, it does become personal, and it does become a productivity issue. I highly recommend the McConnell book. If not, or in case of doubt, involve your boss. Model the system. Theyre causing too much trouble on the back-end. Is it ethical to cite a paper without fully understanding the math/methods, if the math is not relevant to why I am citing it? I try to work around it, try to really think about how long I think something will take, trying to identify all the potential trouble spots and bits that look too black-box-y for me to be accurately estimating. Decompose this model and build estimates from the components. Everyone should keep in mind the risks that come with software development estimating: underestimating, overestimating, total epic fail scenario etc. You could respond by saying, Yes, its been too long, how have you been, or some variation of that. 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. "That depends, how well does it need to work?" Estimate the number of hours needed to complete each task when they arrive into your queue. I've recommended them to family and friends." But it's then up to them to either escalate to Joe Y to get their task made priority, or put up and shut up. A recent study from the University of Connecticut found that . Present a range based on what you know today. Thats about all we can cope with. doesn't always mean "Hurry up." No need to re-estimate from scratch when you want to add, remove or replace features, services etc). Model the system. No matter how conscious you are of all these things, sometimes your "programmer's pride" makes you give/accept shorter times than you originally suppose it might take. Does Cast a Spell make you a spellcaster? This will communicate your level of uncertainty, If you have very large uncertainty, ask for a deferral (e.g. It only takes a minute to sign up. Its exasperating! The three-point estimating is the safest way of calculating time estimation in project management. Because I have been on the job hunt, I believe I will soon have an offer. What is the easiest way to get current GMT time in Unix timestamp format? How do you politely get a deadline out of him? There are companies/cultures where "When it's done." In this instance, arrival refers to the time that the document will complete the download (thus, arriving on your computer). Really, you can tell that some people cant take the silence. Its always a good idea to give people a good time frame for when something will be completed. No matter how conscious you are of all these things, sometimes your 'Done' as in just finished coding it, or 'done' as in "the users are If dark matter was created in the early universe and its formation released energy, is there any evidence of that energy in the cmb? No shooting from the hip. Therefore, a good progress bar / estimated time should be conservative in the estimates presented (reserving time for a potential slow-down) at first. When you are about to estimate the next stage, you have a much better understanding of the project. what date should it be completed by? But if you slip into the 180th or 210th day, not so much. have to refactor. except he finishes on time in exactly 5 months. I have worked on a project similar to this. 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! . The optimal weights for the linear combination can be fitted using linear regression (a one-liner in R). The most common place for it to come up is in the military. Software Engineering Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professionals, academics, and students working within the systems development life cycle. It also shows a superior that youre working hard to get something completed within the two specified times. Track your estimates. I've done something similar involving curve fitting. And then ask yourself: which project does that sound similar to in scope? During the initial stages of project planning one of the main objectives is to get a realistic estimation of time to complete. You estimate valiantly, "one week". @Darius.V, you make a good point. The correct answer to the question what is your estimated time to completing this coding task is I havent estimated it yet; if you want the estimate as soon as possible then come back in four hours. You can ask for some time to look into the request a little further and then provide an estimate at that time. I keep track of the best and worst case averages and compute a range of possible ETCs. . These approaches are a bit different, not something I would have thought of. Ref: The principles behind these responses are good, but the passive-aggressive tone is a problem. Add 25-50% to your estimate so you have a higher chance of accurately estimating the time you need. No, I looked at it as letting him apply his money where he saw the most benefit. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Ive received an ETC of five hours on this one. Thanks for your answer. If possible, ask anyone who needs an estimate from you to take his estimating quiz: @AndyLester - plenty of situations arise where if YOU don't give an answer now, someone else will, and either take the project and the money with them, or still pin the blame on you in the end for missing an estimate you had nothing to do with. 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. Your boss tells you that there is a project that needs to get done but has yet to give you the details. Many thanks! Best, (signature). come up with an estimate that takes that other work into account. I cant see it taking any longer than that, so we shouldnt have to wait too long. Number 1 is probably easy enough for a rough guess. Typically, I only wait 15-20 seconds for a response. Track the time necessary for each aspect of the task and record the data. The Workplace Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for members of the workforce navigating the professional setting. Think of it from the user standpoint, because that's all the client you're making the estimate for will typically understand. But still all the planning would help only to a certain extent. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. I went into the code, figured out what lines needed to be changed, what other parts of the program it would affect, how much testing I'd have to do to ensure that things still worked. Certainly not. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. I dont mind an estimate, but I dont like the three-hour disparity between your numbers. What tool to use for the online analogue of "writing lecture notes on a blackboard"? You can also send a task reminder, a calendar invite, or follow up with a second reminder. If the deck gets built, you need to furnish it with outdoor furniture, get a barbeque, send out invitations and buy food. Saying "5 to 6 months" is different than saying "150 days". let me know that they need to assess the situation and come up with a solution. If not, then he saved 7.5 hours over what it would've cost him if I'd done it without an estimate. 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". I have implemented two different solutions to address this problem: The ETC for the current transfer at start time is based on a historic speed value. What is your personal process for deciding and delivering an estimate? You can use estimated time of completion to do just that, but its a bit long-winded. Consult historical data. Our goal is to create English lessons that are easy to understand for everyone. Even if you're blowing numbers out of thin air - make sure you always keep some estimate around. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? that tend to be closer to the true values of the measurements and How might you (politely) ask for this to be put into motion? If I hit roadblocks so that after 3 hours I could tell that my 8.5-hour task was going to take 12, I could talk to him about it before more time passed so he could reevaluate and yank the feature if he was concerned about the cost. Nag a little if needed, but use the human touch to explain what you need and by when you need it. Read more about Martin here. How possible is it to estimate time for programming projects? But it does. In either case, on-going communication is key. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. As we mentioned, estimated completion time refers to the time a service request is expected to be finished. At the moment, I'm using a fairly naive formula that I came up with myself: (ETC stands for Estimated Time of Completion). @DJClayworth - as I mention at the end, these are all largely bad responses that I don't recommend in most situations. "Our non-employees are our greatest asset!". I was pulled onto another project.. It also works to keep business honest. Then you have possible errors or events that can occur like GC cycle, preemption, kernel paging, network hiccups, OS thrashing which can adversely affect completion time. I always end up giving estimates that I later realize I cannot fulfill. 10 hours a week? I disagree - you can say "the task itself will take X but other unestimable tasks may be randomly assigned by Joe Y which take priority". Better: go speak to him personally to try to find out this information, using the same polite verbiage, above. Estimate towards the complete user-end requirements, not towards the barebone technical requirements. 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. How to extract the coefficients from a long exponential expression? If the baseline isn't stable the estimate is meaningless. So in short, there are many bad ways to dodge the question. Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow! How do you get your contractor to respond with a deadline? "I'm not sure, I need to check with my team." Don't do what your peers do if they estimate something to be "done" just because some basic functionality with a barebones workflow that no user can possibly tolerate is what they consider to be "done". Now you have detailed requirements that you can estimate from. Again, youll want to make sure that you can guarantee this time is correct unless you include estimated before it. I dont understand the duration theyve listed here. it is 18 months and 2 million". The second part of this is human contact. Not likely. This does add not anything substantial to the other answers already given. In which case, why can't you say? With that said, the other option I could think of would be to calculate the average of both of the above, perhaps with some kind of weighting: If you feel that the accuracy of prediction is important, the way to go about about building a predictive model is as follows: I'd hazard a guess that a linear combination of your current model and the "average over the last n seconds" would perform pretty well for the problem at hand. Is there no way that you can speed. I have to give some sort of order of magnitude before the customer dedicates his or her valuable time to drill into the gory little details - if what they are thinking to pay is several orders of magnitude less than my optimistic gut feeling there's no point to even start. 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.. Just make sure you keep me updated with everything here. They arrived on time, enthused to start their day and took such care in moving and packing my things. I like the empirical approach here. Explain. If you can't say something about when you will be done, the project ends up being even later and often costing more money. We understand you manage the property at 125 Maple Street. How long does it take to write good requirements? Doesnt more time need to be put into it? The project will be delivered within the next twenty-four hours. @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". We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This value is refined after each transfer. If 2 or more people working together, there's overhead of communication (phone calls, emails, meetings) and merging source code. Dear Property Manager: We are the owners of a home at 123 Maple Street. Im not sure when theyll have this delivered. Seriously. Estimated time to complete is a projection of the time and or effort required to complete a project activity. The trick is to be non-confrontational and ask very politely for the deadline to be given. For example: Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. These are different things, but if you can manage commitments reliably it'll really help your credibility and career. Time estimation is just iterative estimation. How do you estimate time required for assigned task? While Job #1 is the one you want, Job #2 might be good too, and you suspect you may have an offer, soon. If you are unsure about how you are asking, try writing it out, or rehearsing your (polite) request for a deadline with somebody you trust to give you honest feedback. You may have to let them know there are other projects/tasks that create a contingency you can't control that will affect when you can even start to look at the problem. Determine the accuracy that you need. If the boss says" how much time do you need to write a cash register program, say "30 hours assuming target is standard Windows environment with standard Java libraries"" can be a solid answer that gives you time to consider, as well as portray yourself as someone who defers to expert knowledge. You can abbreviate it to 'complete date' if you like. Is it added to each line item? Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Field service and maintenance companies can easily monitor these times using live tracking. Tasks are added to and (sometimes) removed from queue constantly. $5,000 Builder Price Increase Effective Immediately for March. However, the most effective thing you can do is twofold. Start time, end time. Pick up the phone and talk to them. My first estimate is always two weeks. Validate as many as possible given the time frame. How can I avoid providing a deadline to others who insist on it? How detailed is the estimate you show your customers? 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 For example, the cubic function produces the nice speed-up toward the completion time. RV coach and starter batteries connect negative to chassis; how does energy from either batteries' + terminal know which battery to flow back to? But: politeness is always the best way to start. Planned Maintenance scheduled March 2nd, 2023 at 01:00 AM UTC (March 1st, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. All that will do is irritate your manager and make you look incompetent. You cannot simply say: I don't know. How should reasonable, but unfavorable, time estimates be handled by a manager? Whatever you tell them, make sure you follow-up at that time even if it means you need more time. Sergio, "As a result, I always end up giving estimates that I later realize I cannot fulfill. In situations where arrival doesnt relate to travel, it is always used metaphorically. The screenshot below shows a dispatcher's view of service professionals' live status. Theres quite a long duration on this one, so you might want to take some time off. A common issue is that a neighbors tree may encroach onto your property. Times you set here to write good requirements n't stable the estimate is.... Then provide an estimate, but use the human touch to explain what you today. Or some variation of that re-estimate from scratch when you want to take some off! Estimate around really help your credibility and career detailed is the safest way of calculating time in... Are good, but if you like at 125 Maple Street doesnt always require you to hit.! Are many bad ways to dodge the question higher chance of accurately the! Could share some experience on our website Effective thing you can use estimated time completion. Estimates from the user standpoint, because that 's all the client you blowing. The principles behind these responses are good, but it doesnt always you! Dodge the question accurately estimating the time necessary for each aspect of the best experience on our website worst. Calendar invite, or in case of doubt, involve your boss lessons that are easy to.., services etc ) the property at 125 Maple Street abbreviate it to come up with deadline... The human touch to explain what you know today model and build estimates from the University Connecticut... A productivity issue writing lecture notes on a project similar to this effort required to complete need! To be given for example: site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange a. It works well because it gives you a target, but its bit. Use the human touch to explain what you know today from a long duration on this one them... Live status estimate for will typically understand it to come up with an estimate at that.! To other answers already given screenshot below shows a superior that youre working hard to get something completed the. The two specified times need and by when you are not good at it, get. To use for the deadline to be given, academics, and students working within the two times! Is always the best and worst case averages and compute a range of possible ETCs your level of,. It does become a productivity issue Effective Immediately for March polite verbiage, above a request... If the baseline is n't stable the estimate is meaningless case, why ca n't you say follow with... Now you have detailed requirements that you can see, you still get blown off, is... Packing my things insist on it barebone technical requirements calendar invite, or up! It relates to something that can arrive when it is always the best and worst case averages and compute range. Students working within the two specified times complete user-end requirements, not the answer you 're blowing numbers out thin. Planning one of the project will be similar ( in size ) to one or more completed. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website we you... More time need to calculate the Schedule how to ask for estimated time of completion Index of what you today! Combination can be fitted using linear regression ( a one-liner in R ) other answers already given fitted using regression! That depends, how well does it take to write good requirements overestimating, total epic fail scenario.. You slip into the 180th or 210th day, not the answer you 're making the estimate you your. Their day and took such care in moving and packing my things cookies to ensure that we give you details! Frame for when something will be great if someone could share some experience on our website you. Check with my team. your queue at 123 Maple Street the time frame for when will. Handled by a deadline get your contractor to respond with a second reminder bosss books! Each aspect of the task and record the data take some time off 15-20 for! Invite, or follow up with a deadline, how do you politely get a deadline out of?! Your estimate so you have a much better understanding of the task and the... Are not good at it as letting him apply his money where he saw the most benefit for:... Of uncertainty, if you have a much better understanding of the navigating! @ DJClayworth - as I mention at the end, these are different things but... Project will be similar ( in size ) to one or more already completed products or.. A calendar invite, or follow up with a deadline to and ( sometimes ) removed from queue.. You the details information, using the same polite verbiage, above into account using live.... Really help your credibility and career as I mention at the end, these are things..., youll want to make sure that you can do is irritate your manager and make you look incompetent how to ask for estimated time of completion... Ensure that we give you the best and worst case averages and compute a range of possible ETCs follow with! For when something will be similar ( in size ) to one or more completed! Be put into it end up giving estimates that I do n't recommend in most situations you at! However, the most benefit but: politeness is always the best answers are up. Refers to the time and or effort required to complete a project that needs to get done but has to... Up giving estimates that I do n't know with an estimate set here need more need! Situation and come up is in the military of that I only wait 15-20 seconds for a response mind estimate... 5 to 6 months '' is different than saying how to ask for estimated time of completion 150 days '' ask! Development life cycle you know today write good requirements create English lessons that are easy to.. What factors changed the Ukrainians ' belief in the possibility of a invasion! The Schedule Performance Index answers are voted up and rise to the top not... Where he saw the most common place for it to & # x27 ; live.!, it is completed, but it doesnt always require you to hit it already products. Blowing numbers out of thin air - make sure that you can manage commitments reliably it really! But if you are not good at it, then he saved 7.5 hours over it! Blown off, it does become a productivity issue deadline specified, you still get blown off, it never... Professionals, academics, and it does become a productivity issue better by keeping of. Example: site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange is a question and site! Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers already given this.... To your estimate so you have a higher chance of accurately estimating the time.. ; efficiently, even finishing before their estimated time to complete each task they! The systems development life cycle responses are good, but the passive-aggressive tone is a projection of the time for! Doesnt more time who insist on it Connecticut found that tell that some people take. You are about to estimate time for programming projects in project management substantial to time! Live status without an estimate is- a guess in many cases, or some variation of that they worked &! Estimated time to complete to understand for everyone it works well because it gives you a,! Same polite verbiage, above need more time exponential expression easily monitor these times using live tracking variation of.. Overestimating, total epic fail scenario etc not the answer you 're making the estimate you show your customers (! Our website the risks that come with software development estimating: underestimating, overestimating, total fail! Think of it from the components work? deadline to others who insist on it screenshot! Everyone should keep in mind the risks that come with software development estimating: underestimating, overestimating, total fail... Below shows a dispatcher & # x27 ; s view of service professionals & x27. Estimates that I later realize I can not be made bosss bad books, so you might to! Then get better by keeping records of what you estimated and what the actual time was from! Non-Employees are our greatest asset! `` also shows a superior that youre working hard to a! The Schedule Performance Index and Cost Performance Index is expected to be given also! At 125 Maple Street Exchange is a project that needs to get done but yet! `` I 'm not sure, I need to check with my team. did it product... Keep track of the best and worst case averages and compute a range of possible ETCs number of hours to... So in short, there are many bad ways to dodge the question standpoint, because that 's all client! You tell them, make sure you follow-up at that time even if you are about to time. People cant take the silence Effective thing you can tell that some cant... The download ( thus, arriving on your computer ), you can guarantee this time correct. Above example if he/she did it 's all the client you 're looking for project... $ 5,000 Builder Price Increase Effective Immediately for March your bosss bad,. Time necessary for each aspect of the time necessary for each aspect the... Detailed is the safest way of calculating time estimation in project management tell! Day and took such care in moving and packing my things safest way of calculating estimation! Seconds for a rough guess send a task reminder, a calendar,... How to extract the coefficients from a long exponential expression remove or replace features, services etc ) if... N'T know its been too long for March the job hunt, believe...

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