this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
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Programmer Humor

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Have a bit of trust (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 weeks ago by cm0002@lemmy.world to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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[–] TallonMetroid@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

This is why I avoid giving concrete estimates whenever possible.

[–] CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But if your hand is forced, it should always be 2x-10x the actual estimate, depending on the complexity of the task, and never less than 2 hours.

[–] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 3 points 2 weeks ago

This is one of those rare occasions where "IT" might have been better fully punctuated as "I.T.", but the thought of using "Scotty" as a verb meaning "generously pad all estimates" amuses me.

e.g. "If I want to cover my a---, I should Scotty it."

[–] Johanno@feddit.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

I estimate how long would it take. Then I add some buffer of 20% to it. Then I double it and call it good.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago

I have always told my team "remember that last piece of work? Add an appropriate fudge factor to this estimate to deal with those sort of problems"

There's usually a last one, if not there'll be one I can call by name