Squandrous

Being a freelance worker, I’m often asked to estimate timelines for projects and have — more often than not — lowballed a lot of my estimates. I still get my work done, but I end up scrambling and charging much less than is warranted for the time I put in.

Luckily, Web Worker Daily just featured a post on the basics of project estimates, and it was perhaps the best post I’ve read in weeks. I’m definitely changing all the ways I approach estimates after reading this post.

Here are the basics:

1. Estimate in inch-pebbles, not milestones.
2. In estimating, 2 plus 2 doesn’t equal 4.
3. Don’t estimate by wishful thinking.
4. Don’t estimate in a vacuum.
5. Track and correct.

Check out the rest of the post on Web Worker Daily.