Separate Estimating from Committing

A fundamental and common problem in many organizations is that estimates and commitments are considered equivalent. A development team (agile or not) estimates that delivering a desired set of capabilities will take seven months with the available resources. Team members provide this estimate to their manager who passes the estimate along to a vice president who informs the client. And in some cases the estimate is cut along the way to provide the team with a “stretch goal.”

The problem here is not that the team’s estimate of seven months is right or wrong. The problem is that the estimate was turned into a commitment. “We estimate this will take seven months” was translated into “We commit to finishing in seven months.” Estimating and committing are both important, but they should be viewed as separate activities.