1. When considering what is to be done, ask me to asses how hard it is in points. Also ask me to tag the task with words that I consider important like "database schema change" or "attach legacy system" or "IE7" or "find third party library". You can also ask me about additional things like, what subsystems I think I'll have to touch or source written in what languages I think I'm going to touch.
2. Use the prior knowledge of how long similarly hard, similarly tagged tasks took to guess how long this task will take, but do not tell me that because I'm not really the one that is interested.
3. If I'm given any input from people who want to get this done ask me how it changes hardness of the task and the tags.
4. After the task is done ask me again about same things and update your knowledge according to measured time the task was actually worked on, my initial predictions of initial hardness and tags and my final evaluation of actual hardness and tags and any other information you chose to gather.
Worst thing you can do to get an estimate is just ask me how long will it take. I'd rather you, not I make the WAG because then everyone is aware of the fact that it's a WAG.
1. When considering what is to be done, ask me to asses how hard it is in points. Also ask me to tag the task with words that I consider important like "database schema change" or "attach legacy system" or "IE7" or "find third party library". You can also ask me about additional things like, what subsystems I think I'll have to touch or source written in what languages I think I'm going to touch.
2. Use the prior knowledge of how long similarly hard, similarly tagged tasks took to guess how long this task will take, but do not tell me that because I'm not really the one that is interested.
3. If I'm given any input from people who want to get this done ask me how it changes hardness of the task and the tags.
4. After the task is done ask me again about same things and update your knowledge according to measured time the task was actually worked on, my initial predictions of initial hardness and tags and my final evaluation of actual hardness and tags and any other information you chose to gather.
Worst thing you can do to get an estimate is just ask me how long will it take. I'd rather you, not I make the WAG because then everyone is aware of the fact that it's a WAG.