To Hit or Estimate
When you’re asked to provide an estimate, determine whether you’re supposed to be estimating or figuring out how to hit a target.
One implication of the close and sometimes confusing relationship between estimation and planning is that project stakeholders sometimes miscommunicate about these activities.
Most executives don’t have the technical background that would allow them to make fine distinctions between estimates, targets, commitments, and plans. So it becomes the technical leader’s responsibility to translate the executive’s request into more specific technical terms.
Usually , executives are not really asking for an estimate; instead they are really asking project leaders to come up with a plan to hit a target.