Post by account_disabled on Mar 5, 2024 10:57:33 GMT
Fit into this context? Just keep reading! Deadline vs effort to provide this valuable answer, it is super important to be clear in our minds about the difference between deadline and effort . In short, effort is the time we actually spend performing a task, while deadline is the delivery date for your client . Being clear about this distinction is very important to Country Email List avoid falling into the trap of passing on the effort as a delivery date, when we must take into account factors such as competing tasks, waiting time, as well as some unforeseen events. In more operational activities, such as preparing a pizza, building a house or going from one point to another by car, it may even be easier to imagine how long it will take to complete. But when it comes to knowledge work, in software development contexts , for example, things become more subjective and we need to resort to some techniques for this definition. The most used device is estimation . An agile team can use various techniques, such as planning poker, t-shirt size and pert, to define the effort of each activity to be developed, and this is taken into account in planning to align expectations.
It is important to consider that, in an agile estimate, we must always do our best to be as assertive as possible, but we must bear in mind that it will not be as accurate as we imagine. Because of this, it is always necessary to take into account in these estimates what steve mcconnell says in his book software estimation: demystifying the black art : “the primary purpose in software estimating should not be to determine the delivery time of an activity, but rather to determine whether the project objectives are realistic enough to allow the project to be controlled to achieve them.” no estimates movement now that we know that estimating can bring some benefits to the planning and management of projects , services and other activities, let's reflect on a contrary movement that arises more specifically within the software context: can we also win without making estimates? The answer is yes , and the biggest gains come from saving time and energy invested in the practice of estimates, inverting this time into an increase in productivity in management and an increase in the level of autonomy and decision-making on a daily basis . Working on a project or product without making delivery estimates can be unthinkable for some people — managers or not.
However, this does not mean that the vision of time and size should be at the mercy of people's individual understanding and will. It is possible to obtain advantages even without using any time or effort estimation techniques. Of course, the scenario must always be taken into consideration before deciding whether or not to stop making estimates, for example: is the work group mature enough to do this? In any case, there is an important movement that brings us an interesting alternative, the so-called no estimates movement. It's an idea that instead of investing time in making estimates, it's more worthwhile to focus efforts entirely on getting things done with collaboration, communication, autonomy, prioritization and transparency in the work in progress . Following this movement involves adjusting the way we do things so that the benefit of aligning expectations is not harmed along the way. One way to keep expectations aligned — “ without estimating” — is by making short and constant deliveries based on the business needs and strategic objectives involved. Applying strategic practices to do this we can apply, for example, lean inception , by paulo caroli.