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Something I realized while skimming this thread, and moments before opening the article itself - I'm definitely underestimating things by factor of 2x, because I keep forgetting about the denominator - that my one work day isn't really 8 people-hours of project work! In reality, it's closer to 3-4 people-hours on average, after I account for time consumed by team meetings, corporate paperwork, 1-on-1s, code reviews, lunch break, help requests from teammates, IT/devops doing maintenance on infrastructure, requests to opinionate on / get involved with some discussions about new projects or with new customers... - a lot of work that's mostly necessary, but isn't relevant to the particular thing I'm focusing on (or estimating). So on top of the excellent framework from the article, I'm going to keep reminding myself that, for the purpose of estimation and project work, I'm working 3-hour days, not 8-hour days (and that's before we factor in any fuzzy human stuff like kids getting sick, becoming burned out, etc.). |
- 8.5 hours on site
- 1 hour of breaks + lunch
- 30 minutes of getting into/out of lunch (tidying up + restarting)
- 30 minutes of gathering tools/supplies in the morning
- 30 minutes of putting stuff away at close
- 30 minutes walking around/getting stuff you didn’t expect to need
- 30 minutes of talking to boss/coworkers about their problem or yours
So you’re talking 5 hours of “real” labor in an 8.5 hour day — and that’s on days you have a consistent project. Days where you have a bunch of small tasks all over the apartment complex might be 3 hours of “swinging hammers”.
That’s normal — and I think people tend to forget process when estimating things.