[dncornholio]

When I make an estimate, I just double what I think it is and this is usual pretty accurate. I keep underestimating, sometimes doubling down I wonder myself, will it really take this long? 99% of the time, in the end, the answer was yes. So this is my goto method. People still think I finish stuff quick, even if I think myself it's too long.

[cybadger]

My favorite estimation hack / joke is similar: take your best estimate, double it, and move up to the next higher time units.

So "oh, an hour or so" becomes 2 days. A week turns into two months.

I don't usually express those estimates, but it gives a good check on an initial, usually optimistic guess.

[rightbyte]

I like your method. A 1h task usually is done in two days after the start anyway due to like testing or reviews or what ever.

The main feuture is that you can report more work than there are hours of work. E.g. complete 8 days of work in two days by doing 4 2-day tasks.

I find it way easier to estimate when something is done rather than how much time it will take to do.

[steveBK123]

This sounds about right. I worked with a guy who never gave an estimate more than "an hour" or "I can bang this out in a weekend". Of course quite often he'd end up working on the feature for 3 months...

[tpoindex]

This is exactly my hack too! Especially when there are outside dependencies that can easily stall your progress.