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An time estimation rule of thumb for software development in startups. (Somewhat tongue-in-cheek.)

The rule

Make a good estimate of the work (in any time unit). Multiply that number by itself in months plus one. What you get is a reasonable estimate for release date (in the original time unit).

Examples

Some examples:

Work estimated to one week will take one week. Work [...]

In his great book User Stories Applied, Mike Cohn suggests that “the goal is for the estimators to converge on a single estimate.” While discussing this with a senior product owner at a major Swedish telco (guess which one!), I came to realize that there might be a point in not converging on a single [...]

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