How do you answer "how long will this take" when you genuinely have no idea
Four months into my first job. My lead asks for an estimate and I freeze every time, because the honest answer is "somewhere between two hours and four days depending on whether this service does the thing I think it does."
So I guess low, because guessing high feels like admitting I'm slow. And then I'm late, every time, and I hate it.
What do experienced folks actually do here? Do you just pad it? Is there a way to say "let me spend an hour looking before I answer" that doesn't sound like stalling?
2 comments
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AnonymousAnon Four months in, nobody expects your estimates to be good. What they need is to hear about the slip the moment you know, not on the due date. Being late costs way less than the surprise does.
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AnonymousAnon "Let me spend an hour on it and come back with a real number" is a completely normal sentence and I promise your lead has said it themselves. What actually reads as stalling is going quiet — not asking for the hour.