Poor Task Estimation

Many poor task estimations are the consequence of the programmer fear that his estimations are too long. There are clients on one side and product owner and other stockholders on the other. They create atmosphere of skepticism and distrust. They suspect and expect that things could go faster (read cheaper). In this atmosphere the programmer feels guilty for he thinks that his estimation are too long. With this consciousness he estimates the time needed to complete the task and his estimations are too short. He works via wrong schedule, he doesn’t have enough time and — as a consequence — his code and all the work are very weak. Everybody, both client and the product owner are disappointed and they blame the programmer.

In my opinion there is room for scrum master, who must educate both client and product owner that good work can take a while. Scrum master is also responsible for the atmosphere of trust and believe. In fact, he must create it. Only on these circumstances one can generate a perfect code and make a good work. 99% of the developers want to work, write code and improve their skills. There is, of course, 1% of the developers, one can call them “black sheeps”, who will always exploit your trust and openness, but it is just the matter of quick identification.

Summarize: many project are going down not because of the programmer weakskills, but because of the weak task estimation, because there was no time todo thing properly.

Build atmosphere of trust and believe and work ahead! Identify “black sheep” quickly! Educate client and stakeholders and explain, that quick work mostly means weak code!

September 2013