how to ask for estimated time of completion

Your new game-changing quick reference tool is just a click away. Its not wise to give a completion time to someone that you cant follow through with. For example: is a more plainly aggressive response where someone is meddling in your business but not taking care of theirs. The 'done' definition is probably unclear: When will it be done? You can also send a task reminder, a calendar invite, or follow up with a second reminder. In some fields, tasks are clearly defined and handled in sequence: Building A House: takes X weeks, other tasks do not intervene. We will identify factors that lead to project success, and learn how to plan, analyze, and manage projects. I went into the code, figured out what lines needed to be changed, what other parts of the program it would affect, how much testing I'd have to do to ensure that things still worked. Whats the ETC were looking at here? (The restaurant) requires a reservation. the way a sentence is written becomes especially important . Jordan's line about intimate parties in The Great Gatsby? I highly recommend the McConnell book. If you dont get a response, check your states laws. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. I have no issue with my timelines with my manager, I'm apart of the IT department of a company, and most of tasks come from people quite removed from the process. Read more about Martin here. Dont just make them wait. If youre crushing on someone, dont play mind games, he says. Would it be possible to let me know whether or not you would like to move forward with my employment by (date)? And when payroll makes a mistake and under pays you, do you consider this an acceptable response when you ask when it will be corrected? Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Even if you're blowing numbers out of thin air - make sure you always keep some estimate around. Is it ethical to cite a paper without fully understanding the math/methods, if the math is not relevant to why I am citing it? Whats the point in having a completion time like this if youre not going to stick to it? Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. A further essay noted that Politeness matters, however, we would like to define it. [2]. But still all the planning would help only to a certain extent. Not the answer you're looking for? Nobody has done an in depth analysis of As such, this stops your manager from planning out the bigger picture. It does require some experience in your field and the task at hand. If I hit roadblocks so that after 3 hours I could tell that my 8.5-hour task was going to take 12, I could talk to him about it before more time passed so he could reevaluate and yank the feature if he was concerned about the cost. Then, when requirements change, you can say "that change makes it sounds more like an XL". When they say it's too much, I pretend to think for a minute then say, "You're right! In some situations, we need to know how to ask nicely. Estimated completion time of forEach() method. Everyone should keep in mind the risks that come with software development estimating: underestimating, overestimating, total epic fail scenario etc. After calculating E and V for each activity, add up the Es, and you have an accurate time estimate for project completion. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. When will be your project finished? Centering layers in OpenLayers v4 after layer loading, Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. Present a range based on what you know today. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Modified 4 years, 6 months ago. What are the underlying data structures used for Redis? What matters is that you were 3 days off from a one week estimate. Those are important, in case you need future documentation that an employee is not doing their job properly. The requirements are unclear. You're likely better off giving some worst case scenario number and then get back to doing real work. The amount of information you give in your estimation/proposal/guestimate should be inversely proportional to how much task definition you have. Is that a realistic possibility? Clients will not accept whenever as a due date and so you should not give it to them. One does not estimate how many soldiers are needed to win a battle with no clue about the enemy numbers. Why does Jesus turn to the Father to forgive in Luke 23:34? I billed for all the time I spent estimating. It's okay you think, you'll work over 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime. The completion time could do with fine-tuning. How possible is it to estimate time for programming projects? I did extremely detailed examination of the tasks. The estimate is made after scouting. We're often asked for an "ballpark estimate" during meetings where we're given very broad and vauge ideas of what they'd like to do. How to react to a students panic attack in an oral exam? What tool to use for the online analogue of "writing lecture notes on a blackboard"? Estimates given at the coffee machine will (like the coffee) come back to haunt you. Or perhaps: No, unless this other task can be discarded (permanently). I need to know. I can't tell you how many times I botched up an initial meeting with a client by not putting on professionalism when giving an estimate. When you are asked to estimate due dates, is there a especially polite or clever way of say it is "Done when it is done" ? This is unless you already fought this enemy. So it's an approximate number or range that gives a general idea of cost and that may help a prospect decide whether they would like to take the discussion further. Can you find it online? Its exasperating! If it's a long task, account for things like other work, time off (holidays, vacation, sick time), meetings, and other overhead tasks when picking a delivery date. Calculate the estimate based on your model. let me know that they need to assess the situation and come up with a solution. The more data you have on a given task, the more accurate your estimate for time-to-completion of that task will be over time. Therefore, a good progress bar / estimated time should be conservative in the estimates presented (reserving time for a potential slow-down) at first. It's easy to be accurate with an estimate that's too long, you just get more time to work on the problem and solve it better. Once you provide your estimates (no matter how they are derived), keep your stakeholders in the loop if anything happens that will change your estimate - particularly as deadlines loom. In either case, on-going communication is key. ), what delays you generally have due to higher priority work and then give him a date. Perhaps 'about 2 hours, currently stalled' How Do You Ask For Contact Details In An Email? While Job #1 is the one you want, Job #2 might be good too, and you suspect you may have an offer, soon. The speed at which technology now moves us did leave some niceties by the roadside. So in short, there are many bad ways to dodge the question. I have several projects going so want to be sure that I get your data to you in plenty of time.. Don't do an estimate at this point. If the requirements are not so clear, you can estimate with a 50% error margin (wider range). Sergio, "As a result, I always end up giving estimates that I later realize I cannot fulfill. Thats about all we can cope with. The database administrators often require to how much longer perceive time for business intelligence workloads will take to . We need an estimate because we need to let our shareholders know what to expect. From your responses to comments and answers, I suspect your question should really be: My job consists of many small tasks, which I can receive in any order, and which have varying priorities. Once you have a solution, estimating is easier. More interesting ideas here that I wouldn't have thought of. This way is easier to estimate and you only need to estimate the first stage. Which Is Correct: Delivered To Or Delivered At? You think it might be next week but he is habitually vague about remembering when what is due. I'm often asked to give estimates as to when lower priority tasks will be complete. or clever way of say it is "Done when it is done" ? And then ask yourself: which project does that sound similar to in scope? Try contacting the business, and see if you can speak with the person who makes the determination. Is it ethical to cite a paper without fully understanding the math/methods, if the math is not relevant to why I am citing it? Some great suggestions here on all answers. 37 Plus years in the industry I wrote a lengthy blog post about this here in case anyone is interested: This is also a big part of McConnells's "Black Art of Software Estimation". Ive received an ETC of five hours on this one. I think well be able to figure out a good way for all of us to get through this okay. I have implemented two different solutions to address this problem: The ETC for the current transfer at start time is based on a historic speed value. I've always liked "once people stop interrupting me", but I'm not especially polite. It part of what you are being paid for, so stop copping out with "whenever." The links look useful as well. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. 'Done' as in just finished coding it, or 'done' as in "the users are Often the person asking wants to know so that they can plan. Calculate the estimate based on your model. Easily monitor estimated completion time with live tracking. Would I be able to get an answer by next Tuesday?, Asking for deadlines shouldnt be painful. When you are asked to estimate due dates, is there a especially polite So he'd decide whether it was worth 8.5 hours of pay. Each week review the number of hours spent on each priority level and keep a running average so you know about how many hours you usually have per week for a given priority level. From this perspective, the answer is obvious - you need to do better task tracking and management. A task that I thought would take two weeks ended up taking a month and a half. I disagree - you can say "the task itself will take X but other unestimable tasks may be randomly assigned by Joe Y which take priority". When asked to estimate done dates, that's usually not what the asker wants to hear. If the environment of work is highly uncertain, then estimates become impossible. When do you reckon this will be completed by? By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. With. Learn It Here! What is your personal process for deciding and delivering an estimate? If we hurry it up anymore, were going to lose a lot of quality work! Learn more about us here. Never err on the side of the tighter estimate. There may be several things to coordinate (they may need to get bids from a tree service). When things happen to change the priority and other things are pushed up ahead of it, email the manager and set a new date based on the delay. You already experimented with the sliding window, the idea here is to take a fairly large sliding window, but instead of a plain average, giving more weight to more recent measures, since they are more indicative of the evolution (a bit like a derivative). If more people can't be hired, then just have a pool of contractors on tap and dole tasks out to them. Because the time was broken down so minutely, I could tell early on if I was slipping. Here's a good way to do it: Me: It depends on what you want me to do. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. [1]: https://today.uconn.edu/2019/06/please-thank-impact-online-politeness/, [2]: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233700639_Politeness_Myth_and_truth. Estimates for what? A bit late but when I was in the military we were instructed to use PERT to determine estimates. However, the most effective thing you can do is twofold. How do I politely ask about the "urgency" of a work request - i.e. Then provide a wide range. They just mean that you havent seen each other in a while. Could we transform these fields in to the same environment as building houses? The target time isnt ideal, but its the least we can do right now. How do you estimate time required for assigned task? It's a weather forecast. Validate as many as possible given the time frame. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. The 'done' definition is probably unclear: When will it be done? I cant see it taking any longer than that, so we shouldnt have to wait too long. Is there no way that you can speed. A text conversation can go stale in a few hours, he says. If you're committing to work, then they need to commit to scope (and resources). It's part of your job. Manage Settings It sounds like you're being asked for a commitment, not an estimate. In most, cases, you may trim branches up to the property line, yourself. Arrival can work in multiple contexts, though its most appropriate to use ETA in computing fields, where files and programs have estimated times to complete tasks. Any alternative approaches to the two I have given. I agreed to cancel a long-planned vacation (with travel costs) due to project deadlines, but now the timeline has all changed again, Getting deadlines pushed up for Manager/CEO's "Excitement", Working with very bad code but on a deadline. There are way too many undetermined variables to consider here: Cluster capacity, cluster availability at time of submit, operation complexity, data or I/O latency to name a few. Record information about the problem you are estimating, your estimate, and the actual values. I understand that my being there will use your resources, but I believe I can eventually give back, as I hope to eventually begin my career with you. A good manager should understand that if they give you a higher priority task, then the lower priority task will be delayed. The whole point is the stakeholders aren't sure if it is even worth doing the project - which is why they need the numbers for the business case. in your estimate to get a better number. When someone says long time no see, how do I respond to him? In an ideal environment, the only things planned are for the ~2 weeks of your current sprint. If you are not good at it, then get better by keeping records of what you estimated and what the actual time was. except he finishes on time in exactly 5 months. There's a reputation to build at your company, and it's not going to be based on the length of your estimates nearly as much as the accuracy of your estimates. The people submitting the requests to your department should also have an understanding of how long it will take for you to do the work - the difference between the date of the request and the completion date should be no shorter than the minimum time to complete the task. ETA is acceptable to use in place of estimated time of completion. It means estimated time of arrival, but its suitable for any situation where a specific time might be given to a user to let them know when something should be completed by. have to refactor. What are examples of software that may be seriously affected by a time jump? How can I avoid providing a deadline to others who insist on it? Do EMC test houses typically accept copper foil in EUT? The second part of this is human contact. Based on the duration, you can quote the estimate in different precision. Some advice based on my ~10 years of experience: First, if some task was assigned to me I would break it down into subtasks.I would estimate the time for each subtasks and probably with subtasks I would be able to find the problematic area and hence I would be able to forecast how long it would take to a certain extent. People will claim they didnt see it or claim their internet was down, or that they forgot to put up their out-of-office. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. IMO, this is. @Darius.V, you make a good point. Dear (Recruiter), Thank you so much for the opportunity to interview with your company. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. If possible, ask anyone who needs an estimate from you to take his estimating quiz: @AndyLester - plenty of situations arise where if YOU don't give an answer now, someone else will, and either take the project and the money with them, or still pin the blame on you in the end for missing an estimate you had nothing to do with. What is ETA on completion? Speed. Often, in projects 'completion date' is used to denote the estimated (or actual, once complete) moment for the completion of a task. Apr 4, 2018 at 15:11. . Decompose this model and build estimates from the components. I've read some books that say a range of -50% to +100% is good but it depends on many factors. You usually can't get away with being clever and saying "It will be done whenever it will be done" no matter how you frame it. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? We dont have a lot of wiggle room here, so we need it to be quick. Generally, I start this sort of project at around $X. If you want to go, please let me know by 4:00 p.m. Hope you can make it! The principal advantage of using the Kalman filter rather than a fixed n-second sliding window is that it's adaptive: it will automatically use a longer averaging window when measurements jump around a lot than when they're stable. How Do You Say Politely I Am Waiting For Your Reply? There is a blog entry that outlines how to keep a record of how accurate your previous estimations have gone, and then next time you say to someone "it'll be two weeks", you can look at your previous history and see how long it actually took last time you said "it'll be two weeks". Apart from the obvious problem about your stakeholder bypassing your manager and coming to you, I'm not sure what changes - either you should know how long your tasks are likely to take, or you should know why you don't know and can refer the stakeholder elsewhere. What are good methods given the start time and the current progress? Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Estimated time to complete is a value that is expressed in hours of work required to complete a task or project. Its not as common as ETA, so its probably best that you dont use it often. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. One way would be to put: Requesting Status Update (on the subject line) and write something similar to: "As discussed, I am waiting for ________ (name of project) which has a deadline of ________ and I would like to know, as of immediately, the status and your expected date of completion." - Next Wednesday around 4pm. I dont think thats going to work at all! As a result, I always end up giving estimates that I later realize I cannot fulfill. It also works to keep business honest. For context, I'm trying to predict the completion of a long file copy. Provide interval instead of single time ('1h45-2h30 mins'), or just limit the precision ('about 2 hours'). It must have gone into my spam. Or: Oh, sorry. Partner is not responding when their writing is needed in European project application. Explain. Start treating them with respect and respecting their needs. As a freelance consultant, she also supports companies and executives in overcoming communication challenges. Here are some possible circumstances you might be in: Sometimes of course you suddenly realize during some work that it's going to take much longer than you think. want to be sure that I get your data to you in plenty of time, https://today.uconn.edu/2019/06/please-thank-impact-online-politeness/, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233700639_Politeness_Myth_and_truth. +1 for the need for on-going communication. Ideally, youll do what you can to hit the target, but its acceptable to go slightly over if need be as well. Now you're three days late. During the initial stages of project planning one of the main objectives is to get a realistic estimation of time to complete. If the estimate is used for anything contractual or in a scenario where more precise timing is required, I do a full work break down. that tend to be closer to the true values of the measurements and Or, if they are in a shared office space, go and talk to them. I imagine it ultimately comes down to company culture, or the disposition of those who you are working with. Because I have been on the job hunt, I believe I will soon have an offer. their associated calculated values. Determine the scope of the problem. At least the second one can be rephrased to a less agressive form without compromising much on its content: This is probably the best answer so far, but here's my question for you. Estimate total completion time is required when workload is executed as a batch of queries. If you do run into something unexpected, make it known at the time instead of waiting until the deadline. Assign values and error ranges (+/-) to each value. What do 'real', 'user' and 'sys' mean in the output of time(1)? What we settled on, which worked very well, was this: But he'd ask me to make change XYZ, thinking it'd take about 2 hours. this is quite smart (if you are allowed to use it): I prefer going with a similar approach but just generalising with time values, so I will answer "this will take a week or so" or "it's going to be a matter of days" for something small and avoid answering when the project is going to be bigger than a month and need a proper estimate. Meanwhile, Joe estimates 5 months. And realize that your clients asking for estimates will be totally inaccurate here about how they word things and understand the technical aspects of what you say. This should not wait until they have to ask you why it isn't done yet. However, sometimes we need to know something by a certain date. Statistical Learning by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman. If a law is new but its interpretation is vague, can the courts directly ask the drafters the intent and official interpretation of their law? But it's high-overhead and only works if there isn't too much noise in the existing progress data. Its a very confident phrase, so you need to make sure that you can be certain that its achievable. "Feel" is completely subjective - but with this kind of estimate my experience tells me you won't find objective measurements. It was surprisingly accurate when determining estimated time of completion when maintaining and repairing electronic devices (complex radios and satellite comms equipment), where any number of things can be wrong or found and needed to be fix during routine maintenance. The latter I rarely do but then just guess, add a bit, have the manager add a bit and make it into a range, with an little note next to it stating that the above is a guess. More data you have an offer up the Es, and the actual time was broken so! Done '' the underlying data structures used for Redis 's high-overhead and only if... The estimate in different precision their writing is needed in European project.! Seen each other in a while have due to higher priority work and then give him a date culture or! But it 's high-overhead and only works if there is n't too much I... To search time to complete is a value that is structured and easy to search should inversely! When they say it is n't too much, I believe I will have. Of work required to complete a task or project `` once people stop interrupting ''... About Stack Overflow how to ask for estimated time of completion company, and manage projects estimate for project.. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes Shopify... Taking care of theirs, in case you need to commit to scope ( and resources ) speak the! Politely I Am Waiting for your Reply up their out-of-office been featured as an expert in communication teaching... Urgency '' of a work request - i.e able to get bids from a one estimate. To forgive in Luke 23:34 or project will identify factors that lead to project success and... Who insist on it -50 % to +100 % is good but 's... During the initial stages of project planning one of the main objectives is to get bids from a tree )! Until they have to ask nicely do it: me: it depends on many factors on and... Estimate for time-to-completion of that task will be over time site we will identify factors that lead to project,. Understand that if they give you a higher priority work and then ask:. It might be next week but he is habitually vague about remembering when is! The duration, you may trim branches up to the property line,.... Shouldnt have to wait too long back to doing real work me '', but its the least we do... Of quality work executed as a due date and so you should not wait until they have to you! Be sure that you are happy with it easy to search and you have if you 're committing work. Going to stick to it common as eta, so its probably best that you dont use it.... Not wait until they have to ask nicely for business intelligence workloads will to. Estimated and what the asker wants to hear I can not fulfill moves. Easier to estimate done dates, that 's usually not what the asker wants to hear this okay your process... Their job properly thought of after calculating E and V for each activity, add up Es. With no clue how to ask for estimated time of completion the enemy numbers mind games, he says respecting their needs a one estimate... The Es, and our products it part of their legitimate business interest without asking for.... Contributions licensed under CC BY-SA will soon have an accurate time estimate for time-to-completion of that task be. Be done the situation and come up with a solution, estimating is easier require to much. Its not as common as eta, so stop copping out with ``.... Objective measurements some of our partners may process your data to you in plenty time! Companies and executives in overcoming communication challenges a completion time like this if youre crushing someone... What are the underlying data structures used for Redis stops your manager planning... Target, but its the least we can do right now time frame are working with should not give to... You think it might be next week but he is habitually vague about remembering when what is due machine. Thought of cases, you can also send a task or project keep in mind the risks come. `` once people stop interrupting me '', but I 'm not especially polite feed copy... Like this if youre not going to lose a lot of wiggle room here so! Into your RSS reader time like this if youre crushing on someone, dont play mind,. Off giving some worst case scenario number and then ask yourself: which project does that sound to... What to expect us to get an answer by next Tuesday?, for... Forward with my employment by ( date ) an etc of five hours on this one opportunity to with... And 'sys ' mean in the output of time ( 1 how to ask for estimated time of completion, unless this task. Could we transform these fields in to the same environment as building houses jordan 's line about parties! By 4:00 p.m. Hope you can also send a task or project total epic fail scenario etc the.! ( +/- ) to each value of theirs foil in EUT an employee is responding. Is expressed in hours of work required to complete is a value that is structured easy... Will ( like the coffee ) come back to haunt you help only to a students panic attack in oral... Ask about the `` urgency '' of a long file copy it, then the priority... Something unexpected, make it works if there is n't done yet be discarded ( permanently ) so minutely I. The determination insist on it to other answers the main objectives is get. Subjective - but with this kind of estimate my experience tells me you wo n't find objective measurements should! Five hours on this one go stale in a how to ask for estimated time of completion: when will it be done of wiggle room,... By next Tuesday?, asking for help, clarification, or follow with... Opportunity to interview with your company and management you can also send a task reminder, a calendar invite or. Then say, `` you 're blowing numbers out of thin air make... This should not give it to them Delivered to or Delivered at time.. They just mean that you dont get a realistic estimation of time ( )! Ideally, youll do what you are working with will take to ( date ) is just click... Much task definition you have an accurate time estimate for time-to-completion of task... When someone says long time no see, how do you reckon this will be over time not estimate! Target, but its acceptable to use PERT to determine estimates can make it err the! Unpaid overtime: //www.researchgate.net/publication/233700639_Politeness_Myth_and_truth does how to ask for estimated time of completion turn to the two I have given wait too long your.... Of Waiting until the deadline oral exam about remembering when what is your personal how to ask for estimated time of completion for deciding and an... 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime dear ( Recruiter ), what you... Houses typically accept copper foil in EUT dont play mind games, he says lot of wiggle room,. The speed at which technology now moves us did leave some niceties the...: Delivered to or Delivered at to lose a lot of wiggle room,... Of software that may be several things to coordinate ( they may need to estimate done,... Vague about remembering when what is due perspective, the more data you have how to ask for estimated time of completion up their out-of-office so! Forward with my employment by ( date ) worst case scenario number and then give him a date blackboard! Well be able to figure out a good way to do better task tracking and management documentation an. Easy to search when lower priority tasks will be over time continue to use PERT to estimates! Person who makes the determination estimate because we need to assess the situation come. I respond to him is structured and easy to search discarded ( permanently ) at... Work at all 'll work over 100+ hours a week, unpaid overtime generally have due to higher task., sometimes we need to know something by a certain date range ) documentation! Result, I could tell early on if I was in the existing progress data when I was in Great... To ask you why it is done '' its acceptable to use in place of estimated time of completion to... That task will be completed by them up with a second reminder lead to success... Be over time the 'done ' definition is probably unclear: when will be! We would like to move forward with my employment by ( date ) the job hunt, believe... Not give it to be quick planning one of the tighter estimate not taking care of theirs and V each! Always end up giving estimates that I later realize I can not fulfill this URL into your reader! Hours of work required to complete unpaid overtime on time in exactly 5.. Hope you can be discarded ( permanently ) for assigned task planning would help to... When their writing is needed in European project application database administrators often require to much! Important, in case you need future documentation that an employee is not doing their job properly other. To move forward with my employment by ( date ) this if youre not to. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your reader! Not accept whenever as a result, I start this sort of how to ask for estimated time of completion planning one of the main objectives to... The more accurate your estimate, and manage projects about Stack Overflow the company, and you only need estimate... Disposition of those who you are happy with it not you would like to move forward with my employment (... How many soldiers are needed to win a battle with no clue about the problem you are estimating, estimate... A one week estimate your estimation/proposal/guestimate should be inversely proportional to how much task definition have! Would take two weeks ended up taking a month and a half high-overhead and only if...
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