Better Software - January 2008 - (Page 9) brain food for building better software >>>> EDITOR’S PICK Moving a Mountain One Pebble at aTime We’ve all been asked to estimate how long it will take us to do something. Yet it’s the one question that I sometimes fear answering since the response demands an accurate estimation of how much effort it will take to complete a task—and it’s also taxing on my belief that I’m only as good as my word. I think you’ll agree that we’re all good at estimating in some areas, and poor in others. I know how long it will take me to clean my house or edit an article, but my estimation skills start to falter when faced with a task like upgrading a section of a business model. To me, the latter is like being asked to move a mountain to a better location. Then Johanna Rothman’s article “Eliminating the 90 Percent Done Game” came across my desk. In it, she explains how to improve your estimation skills by breaking down a project into “inch-pebbles.” These incremental tasks are the smallest elements of a project that can be done in a day or two and can either be reported as done or not done. Then these inch-pebbles are lumped into fluid daily schedules, which are grouped together by weeks. What makes them fluid is that if at the end of the day you haven’t completed all of your inch-pebbles, you then add more time at the end of the project so you can complete these smaller tasks. The objective of this scheduling tactic is to narrow your focus and estimations to daily tasks, which should help you better estimate how long it will take to complete the project. Once you understand how long it takes for you to complete the smaller deliverables of a project, your estimation skills should improve. And the next time someone asks you how long it will take to complete a similar project, your estimation should be more accurate. FRANCESCA MATTEU Francesca Matteu, managing editor of StickyMinds.com, brings a background of public relations to her position. Francesca’s previous experience includes Web site development and design and print publication management. I tried this with one of my job responsibilities: Web seminars. After understanding the processes and deliverables involved in completing the project, which I learned after managing two Web seminars, I understood how long it would take to complete the entire production of just one. The inch-pebbles for this project were tangible deliverables, such as working titles, drafting abstracts, gathering the speakers’ biographies and photos, etc. The inch-pebbles were then lumped together into weekly schedules, and then the weeks were lumped together into phases. This project has three phases: pre-production, production, and post-production. So far, the inch-pebble scheduling has helped me estimate time of completion to within a day or two. With this and other behemoth-like projects, it no longer seems as if I have to move mountains to complete this task; now all I see is a huge pile of pebbles. And knowing how long it takes me to move a pebble helps me provide more accurate estimations. Read “Eliminating the 90 Percent Done Game” at www.stickyminds.com/editorspick10-1. Is It Monday Yet? Soon the sounds of Super Bowl XLII will be fading from memory, marking the end of another football season. Then what will you have to look forward to on Monday nights? We’ve got your answer: the StickyMinds.com weekly columns! Unlike the NFL, our publishing schedule never takes a break between seasons, so you can count on us to deliver to you the latest ideas and thoughts from the top players in the field of software development. In the next two months, we’ll hear from Danny Faught, Linda Hayes, Peter Clark, Ed Weller, Dion Johnson, Fiona Charles, Clarke Ching, and Esther Derby. Boost Your Brain Power in an Hour Software Quality Engineering’s hour-long Web seminars are designed for people who want to learn about new trends and tools in software development but are pressed for time. Our Web seminars feature subject matter and industry experts covering topics such as test design, requirements gathering, performance test execution, and Web 2.0. The only investment required from you is an hour of your time. Visit www.stickyminds.com/WebSeminarCurrent to see a list of upcoming Web seminars, or visit www.stickyminds.com/WebSeminarArchive to view our presentation archive. www.StickyMinds.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 BETTER SOFTWARE 9 http://www.stickyminds.com http://www.stickyminds.com/editorspick10-1 http://StickyMinds.com http://www.stickyminds.com/WebSeminarCurrent http://www.stickyminds.com/WebSeminarArchive http://www.StickyMinds.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.