advice on company projection dates

[emrys404]

Hello, I recently started working on a project for a company and i am constantly being asked for projection dates. As i am the only one working on this project and have never done this kind of project before, i am usually under estimating my time frame.
Are there any rules of thumb for estimating completion dates? Any advice you can give?

THanks much
-emrys

[Weedpacket]

Hoooo... I still have grief with these; I take my best estimate and bump it up by at least 10%, and often double it.

Sometimes I still wish I'd scaled it up to the next unit as well (I think something will take 6 hours, I find I wished I'd said 12 days. I think it will take a day, it ends up taking a couple of weeks).

If I do overrun, I like to at least warn them in advance of the deadline that there will be a delay and reset the deadline - most people would understand that they are not your only client, and when you say "eight days" it means "sixty four work hours devoted to your job", not "Wednesday next week".

Repeat custom can be nice; you can tinker with what they already have and put something together you reckon they'll be wanting. Note how long something actually took and you can give them quite a good estimate of how long it will take to do :). Then whack your tinkinering in (check it!) and put a note on the calendar to remind you when to tell them it's done.

Then go rockclimbing for the rest of the day ;).

[Elizabeth]

Personally, I tally up the number of hours I think it will take me, and then I do a general conversion that 40 hours = about 4 weeks (so 80 hours = 8 weeks, etc.). I usually have tons of other things going on, and most of my clients know they aren't my only one, so people are usually pretty understanding about this. I also try and give myself a hefty buffer just in case something comes up (which usually does).

Plus, then you'll look like a hero if you get it done sooner.

I also make it clear that any changes that occur along the way will most likely push the deadline back based on the change. I've not had any complaints as of yet about that- makes sense, but it's a good idea to make that clear upfront.

hth

-Elizabeth

[Merve]

Never say "I'll try to get it done by an early date."
Say "I will get it done by a later date."