Collective Wisdom from the Experts 161
Of course, at this point, I have two developers who think I’m tricking them
and a client who’s ready to cancel the project! I then explain the last “rule” of
accountability around estimating. “Kealy, Ted, the one thing I need from you
both is that as soon as you think you are going to blow an estimate, speak up
and tell your project manager. And Lisa, as software project manager, you can
have a discussion about the task with them to ensure that they haven’t changed
the scope of the task since the estimate was created. If, in fact, the estimate will
be missed, you must then call the client and ask them what they want to do.”
Finally, I turned to our client. “Jen, here’s what you get out of all this. More
aggressive estimates, more work in less time since the estimating environment
is a trusting one, and dedicated team members who enjoy striving to meet
their own estimates. However, you must be willing to accept that every once in
a while, we’ll make a mistake. And when we do, we’ll inform you before we’ve
spent all the money.”
Teaching the process is a powerful empowerment tool!