Does your estimation include procrastination time?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9595099

by panjaro • 11 years ago

12 3 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

When I make an estimation of the tasks - be it assignment, projects or some reading I want to do, it often starts well for a day. Then next couple of days I sometimes get sad, sometimes depressed. I question myself what I'm doing with life and compare it with what I should be doing. Then I look at things what I could do and question why am I doing what I'm doing right now. Then the phase comes where I get scared of failure. I search for motivation, in music, in articles, what great people said, how they lived. Then I gather enough courage and enthusiasm to finish the task. However, When i look back, I have just taken more than a week to finish the project which according to my assumption, if I worked hard should've been finished in 2-3 days. Does anyone experience these things? Am I normal?

weddpros• 11 years ago

I have the same problem, and I've come to accept it. Sometimes I'm very efficient, sometimes not...

Acceptation helps: you won't feel like sh anymore. Acceptation also means "let's go for a walk" is often your best option.

A todo list, the pomodoro technique (google it), relaxation/meditation can help too.

Productive procrastination is also a good way to cope: find a better procrastination, learn something, anything that will make you a better you...

So yes, I account for procrastination in time estimates. I think "nobody" can be 100% productive for 8h a day for some jobs.

EDIT: by definition, time estimate means "how long will I take to achieve X", so including procrastination in it sounds right...

andersthue• 11 years ago

Is anybody normal? Would you like to be normal? How do you define normal?

When you ask if you are normal, you at the same time define "not normal" and put yourself in that box, what about rejecting the concept of normal and work on accepting who you are?

On the other hand I understand and recognize what you describe, sounds like what I used to do and what I have seen in many.

Try this: Divide your project into timeblocks of half a day's work (not in hours but in a size you can realistic reach either before midday or from midday until end og working day)

Then take a piece of paper and make a grid with the five weekdays and two cell's per day and write one of the timeblock you defined above in each cell.

Then show someone this paper and hang it somewhere visible, this is your accountability.

Then in each timeblock, after reaching your task, mark it complete and procrastinate until the next timeblock begins :)

This helped me.

Edit: then only sell timeblocks not hours - that way you get paid for doing tasks not doing hours.

brudgers• 11 years ago

If you make stew from a can you can use a microwave and be done in two and a half minutes. If you make it from scratch, it's better if you let it simmer awhile, come back and stir it, then let it simmer awhile more, and so on. Eventually it gets into bowls and onto the plate. That's not procrastination, it's cooking.

Creative and cooking processes take time. Where nothing really appears to be happening. Ideas become richer with time.

Does your estimation include procrastination time?

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