One strategy I've found useful when asked for an estimate is to ask back: "What do you need the estimate for?" Often, this leads to a useful discussion, and we can discover things like:
- They don't actually need to estimate, because the task can very obviously be completed by the previously window
- They're simply trying to prioritize two different features, so the estimate doesn't need to account for who will be working on the project, known vacations, meetings, etc.
- The business is trying to use the estimate for strategic planning, so high-confidence, or multiple estimates (optimistic/normal/conservative) are actually needed.
It's similar to when someone comes to engineering and asks "Please build this button for me" - it's always crucial to ask "Why?" and understand the problem they're trying to solve, since often what they've asked for is not what they need.
- They don't actually need to estimate, because the task can very obviously be completed by the previously window
- They're simply trying to prioritize two different features, so the estimate doesn't need to account for who will be working on the project, known vacations, meetings, etc.
- The business is trying to use the estimate for strategic planning, so high-confidence, or multiple estimates (optimistic/normal/conservative) are actually needed.
It's similar to when someone comes to engineering and asks "Please build this button for me" - it's always crucial to ask "Why?" and understand the problem they're trying to solve, since often what they've asked for is not what they need.