[lotsofcows]

"20 days subtask"

Blimey, I don't trust anyone to effectively estimate their time over any period greater than 5 days. And I tell them to add 20%...

[mathattack]

"Blimey, I don't trust anyone to effectively estimate their time over any period greater than 5 days. And I tell them to add 20%..."

I find it more accurate to double the # and bump the metric.

1 hour => 2 days 3 days => 6 weeks

Estimation is one of the hardest parts of the software management.

[gadders]

Agreed. I mean at some level of abstraction (EG status reporting to senior management/sponsors), rolling up sub-sub-tasks into one 20 day task would be OK but if I had direct oversight over the developers I'd aim more for 2-3 days.

[robicch]

Yeah, actually this is exactly what I think. I believe in agile approach, but for the old generation PMs 20 sounds better :-)

[sfall]

if you think construction then a 20 day subtask could be a trade for a floor

[anoressLucy]

Someone else even likes to schedule 2h tasks.... and the planning never stops!

[_pmf_]

I've been taught to estimate in logarithmic units, i.e. 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, 8 h (i.e. 1 d), 2 d, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month