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Comment by DrewADesign

1 day ago

The fundamental problem remains: it’s difficult to predict how long it will take to solve a series of puzzles. I worked in a dev group where we’d take the happy path estimate and double it… it didn’t help much. So often I’d think something would take me a week, so two walls was allotted, but I made a discovery in my first like hour/day whatever that reduced the dev time to like a couple days. Then, there were tasks that I thought I’d solve in a few days that took me weeks because I couldn’t foresee some series of problems to overcome. Taking a guess and adding time to it just shifts the endpoint of the guess. That didn’t help us much.

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DrewADesign

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grvdrm  21 hours ago

That's the point I am making, and the point of asking "what is the alternative"

Developers aren't alone in adhering to schedules. Many folks in many roles do it. All deal with missed deadlines, success, expectation management, etc. No one operates in magical no-timeline land unless they do not at all answer to anyone or any user. Not the predominant model, right?

So rather than just say "you can blame the PMs" I'd love to hear a realistic-to-business flow idea.

I am not saying I have the answers or a "take". I've both asked for and been asked for estimates and many times told people "I can't estimate that because I don't know what will happen along the way."

So, it's not just PMs. It's the whole system. Is there a real solution or are we pretending there might be? Honest inquiry.

  • dylan604  20 hours ago

    Software release dates are so arbitrary though. We no longer make physical media that needs time to make and ship. Why does software need to be released on February 15th instead of March 7th?

    • wat10000  18 hours ago

      You could ask the same question about the contents of the release. Why does software need to be released with features X, Y, and Z on March 7th when it could be released with features X and Y on February 15th?

      It's inevitable that work will slip. That doesn't necessarily mean the release will slip. Sometimes you actually need the thing, but often the work is something you want to include in the release but don't absolutely have to. Then you can decide which tradeoff you prefer, delaying the release or reducing its scope.

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