January 1998

Five-Minute-Task Time Estimate Worksheet

One of the great unsolved problems in software development is the task of estmating time required for a software project. Lot's of different reasons have been given for this, ranging from programmer ego, to software development complexity. Rather than focusing on causes, or theoretical approaches, I herein offer a practical guide to improving time estimates for the worst-case scenario, the dreaded Five Minute Task.

(For your convenience, the first two answers have been filled in.)

Preliminary Estimate

How long will the five-minute task/project take? 5 minutes

Detailed Worksheet

For each item below, please provide your best estimate for the time required for completion. DO NOT enter zero for any field!
basic changes/development:5 minutes
deal with the compile-time errors you failed to anticipate: 
deal with an obscure compiler error you've never seen before: 
figure out why it dumps core before executing first line of code: 
figure out why it still dumps core, even though you fixed the problem: 
total time of other staff in helping you with previous item: 
completely rewrite it to work around obscure system or compiler bug that could not be solved even with other peoples help: 
deal with additional compile-time errors introduced by rewrite: 
figure out why it dumps core again: 
it seems to work; now fully test all new/changed functionality by hand: 
correct problems found: 
code for obscure error conditions or user input exceptions that you didn't think of until just now: 
add some features that would be easy and relevant that you didn't think of until just now: 
compile again: 
test again: 
write/update program documentation: 
write/update user documentation: 
rewrite documentation that you lost from the power failure: 
install software: 
test the installed version: 
figure out why installed version doesn't work or works differently then before: 
fix install problem: 
install documentation: 
update source control area: 
deal with installed software changes crashing all systems at random intervals: 
total time of other staff in helping you with previous item: 
fix software: 
compile: 
test: 
install: 
deal with innaccurate bug reports from 2 percent* of your userbase:
(*please round up to nearest whole human being)		 
deal with accurate bug reports from 1/2 percent* of your userbase:
(*please round up to nearest whole human being)		 
fix user's legitimate complaints: 
compile: 
test: 
install: 
document the complete redesign that you now realize the system needs, but that you don't have time to do: 

Total of all above answers:

Revised Estimate

How long will the five-minute task/project ACTUALLY take?

For your interest, I have prepared a sample worksheet filled out with plausible answers.

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