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Estimating
Predicting how long work will take — and why we usually guess low.
Guessing how long work will take is a skill, and it is easy to be optimistic about it. This section explains why estimates tend to come in low and offers practical ways to make them more realistic. It answers questions about breaking tasks into pieces, accounting for the work around the work, learning from past tasks and communicating uncertainty to other people.
Begin with how to estimate how long a task will take. A simple habit helps: write down your estimate before you start, note the actual time when you finish, and compare the two. Over time, that record tells you more about your own patterns than any general rule.