Estimate: an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth
Commitment: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action
- Estimates are not commitments.
- Plans based only on estimates are bad plans.
- Commitments based only on estimates are at best foolish, at worst dishonest.
Estimates are certainly a useful tool for making realistic commitments, but there are many others too that are equally, if not more, useful. Working at a sustainable pace, measuring data about past performance, and facilitating the genuine consensus of the whole team when committing are the way to make plans that can actually be achieved.
Project Prioritisation Is Evil « Julian Everett’s Weblog | 05-May-09 at 6:03 pm | Permalink
[...] is an estimate, not a commitment. We fully expect it to be wrong - that is why we are limitting our liability by implementating the [...]
Ashley Moran
| 08-May-09 at 10:39 pm | Permalink
A commitment to work consistently at a sustainable pace is the most valuable commitment of all. Commitments to unprovable plans are just an exercise in blame-shifting.
limitedwipsociety.org » Don’t Confuse Estimates with Commitments | 27-May-09 at 10:43 am | Permalink
[...] has written a great article on his blog about a topic sure to provoke discussion: estimation. Categories: Uncategorized Tags: Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment [...]
links for 2009-09-12 « Csom Gyula Blogja | 12-Sep-09 at 11:04 pm | Permalink
[...] Tea-Driven Development :: Don’t Confuse Estimates with Commitments (tags: agile becslés) [...]