[bkirkby]

i've heard business leaders express the suspicion that sw eng teams are trying to avoid accountability by claiming estimating is too hard.

and every time i've seen people try to correct for this it results in different layers of management adding arbitrary fudge factors to the time estimate which inflates the actual time that it takes to do something. these corrections build inefficiency into the beginning of the project and bake them in.

it's an answer to "how do we not be wrong about when things will be done?" over "how do we move faster?"

[RegW]

> i've heard business leaders express the suspicion that sw eng teams are trying to avoid accountability by claiming estimating is too hard.

If we say that we don't know how long its going to take or how much its going to cost - can you blame them?

Lots devs like me have a comms issue. We would love to deliver stunningly brilliant complete package on the first attempt and we come across as secretive. We need to made to think about delivering an MVP and building a product up incrementally. This way those nervious bosses and investors can see that something is happening. I think the question is often not "how long is it going to take?", but rather "will you ever deliver something I can sell?".