And you are here why?

Estimating sucks, doesn’t it? I mean, sitting through those sprint planning meetings is, easily, the worst part of the job, right? Or wait, maybe those endless discussions about what exactly a story point is,  those , are the worst part of the job. Or maybe trying to figure out whether you should switch to T-shirt instead of story points, maybe  that’s  the worst part. /via http://www.modernanalyst.com/Resources/BusinessAnalystHumor/tabid/218/ID/2388/How_do_you_estimate_your_Business_Analysis_or_IT_project_work.aspx Spend any time in product/development circles, and you’ll run into (a lot of?) people who wear their loathing for estimation as a badge of honor, who swap horror stories in hushed tones, and reflexively glance over their shoulders when they do so. What’s more, there is a bit of an implicit assumption that estimates are all just Dartboard Games anyhow, because, in the end, you’re just guessing… Hyperbole? Yes. And also no, because there is definitely ...

Timeframes are rarely absolutes. Oh yes, there absolutely might be  real deadlines , the kind that are actually important (“ We’re releasing in time for the Christmas season, the company depends on it… ”). That said, assuming that the deadline is actually achievable — and not something made up to get people to “work harder” — there is usually some level of uncertainty involved in the timeframes. Take the chart below for example People generally have a very good idea of how long it’ll take them to get  Short Term  stuff done. And  Long Term  stuff is usually beholden to the aforementioned deadlines, so there isn’t much uncertainty there (remember, if it’s a  real  deadline, the uncertainty is around  what  gets delivered, not  when !). The  Stuff in Between , however, can be all over the place. It’s the domain of shuffled priorities, unexpected kinks, flu season, market-induced curve balls, and  ambiguous requirements ...

“ Do it my way — I have 24 years of experience in this field, so I don’t care whether you have any customer feedback or not ”  — # CowboyManager We’ve all probably had a variation of the above invoked on us at some point in our career. It’s a classic example of an   egocentric fallacy   (•), where your manager believes that they know what the customer wants based on   their belief that their preferences and insights are typical of the market . It also succinctly explains why so many products and services fail! The thing is, there is nothing wrong with insights and preferences — they are actually quite valuable, and serve as an excellent short-hand for identifying actions, patterns, opportunities, and so forth. That said, these   beliefs should serve as a starting point, and not as a final decision!   Use them as as the beginning of the planning process, gather user feedback, market data, evidence, etc., up to the point where you can make falsifiable deci...