Software Development Myth #3: My Development Velocity Is Based Solely on Me

One of my managers in the past used to say that every developer has a factor that you multiply his or her development estimates by to get a "more accurate" estimate. Ok, I believe this - some developers tend to be opptimistic in their views of how quickly they can get things done - others tend to be more pessimistic.... I even had a co-worker who thought he gave "more accurate" than other estimates...(yeah, right).... so bottom line is there's a sliding scale that you probably fall on as a developer with regards to how optimistic or pessimistic your estimations are... (I won't try to dive into the psychological reasons for how you arrived there -- anyone else want to take that post? :))

But this manager was only concerned with the developers in his environment (not surprising)... however, there is another factor to enter into the equation - and it relates to the organization - and how a particular developer relates to that organization...... so to simplify - the factor that this manager shared about is not simply to be defined by the estimating practices of the particular developer... but also how the developer works in the larger context of the organization.....

For example - at one job - I thought I had honed my estimation skills - working in a particular environment with small, packaged deliverables, and management focused on keeping hard deadlines... yeah, I could narrow things down to almost every line of code I would have to write to make something happen - not taking into account much back and forth with the folks that were requesting it........definitely easier to estimate, and it definitely pulled me from the "pessimistic" side that I tend to be on........then I worked at another company - where there was a little more back and forth - a little less rigid with regards to requirements....so my estimates probably bounced a little more toward the pessimistic side, to compensate for that.... and in yet another organization - a massive organization with many, many parties to deal with and negotiate with - I found my estimating to be on the optimistic side....and it shifted to more pessimistic, to compensate for all the challenges bringing pieces together....

I'm sure anyone who's been in the industry for any amount of time has seen similar sort of pattern... but it's something to keep in mind if you have to make a move to another organization....time moves differently in different places..... :) And you don't usually know the arate at which it moves until you have existed in it for a little while..........