This link has been bookmarked by 10 people . It was first bookmarked on 29 Apr 2008, by F M.
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12 May 12
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Software developers are a special breed of optimist: when presented with a programming task, they think, "That'll be easy! Won't take much time at all."
So, give a programmer three weeks to complete a large task, and she'll spend two and a half procrastinating, and then one programming.
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Smaller tasks and smaller timelines are more manageable, hide fewer possible requirement misunderstandings, and cost less to change your mind about or redo.
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Next time someone tries to pin you down for an exact answer to an unknowable question
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just start by taking the air out of the room: say "I don't know."
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his demonstrates the care you bring to your decision-making. You're not going to just say words to sound smart.
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Sometimes solving the next twenty problems is not as useful or as prudent as solving the one staring us right in the face.
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03 Apr 11
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11 Nov 10
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So shrink your time. Keep breaking down timeframes into smaller chunks. Instead of a 12 week project, think of it as 12 weeklong projects
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Instead of guesstimating at tasks that take 30+ hours, break them down into more realistic 6-10 hour chunks.
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Give a programmer an afternoon to code a small, specific module and she'll crank it out, ready to move onto the next one.
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Smaller timelines keep developers engaged and give them more opportunities to enjoy a sense of accomplishment and less reason to think, "Oh I've got plenty of time to do that. For now, let me finish rating songs in my iTunes library."
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22 Jun 10
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Estimates that stretch into weeks or months are fantasies. The truth is you just don't know what's going to happen that far in advance.
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Keep breaking down timeframes into smaller chunks. Instead of a 12 week project, think of it as 12 weeklong projects. Instead of guesstimating at tasks that take 30+ hours, break them down into more realistic 6-10 hour chunks. Then proceed one step at a time.
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Keep dividing problems into smaller and smaller pieces until you're able to digest them.
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10 Feb 10
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So, give a programmer three weeks to complete a large task, and she'll spend two and a half procrastinating, and then one programming. The off-schedule result will probably meet the wrong requirements, because the task turned out to be more complex than it seemed.
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Smaller tasks and smaller timelines are more manageable, hide fewer possible requirement misunderstandings, and cost less to change your mind about or redo. Smaller timelines keep developers engaged and give them more opportunities to enjoy a sense of accomplishment and less reason to think, "Oh I've got plenty of time to do that. For now, let me finish rating songs in my iTunes library."
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12 Aug 08
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Give a programmer an afternoon to code a small, specific module and she'll crank it out, ready to move onto the next one.
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