Having been employed by a number of different companies I have seen different management styles. There has always been a recurring problem, however, and that is the problem of how to educate educating people who do not understand how to make accurate time estimstes for tasks delegated.
For my Dept. I had a model of the processes and a list of what factors contributed to task times I also had external estimates from sub-contractors to show how long and at what cost the company would have to pay if it went outside to get the task done. However, there were still those who did not understand how long jobs can take to do. Any one else with similar experienes ?
Yes, estimating is one of the more difficult tasks to accomplish. As an engineer turned Project Manager a lot of my time is spent estimating for jobs, getting estimates from project team members and then chasing to see if the jobs are progressing to schedule.
There are only two ways I know to try and get good estimates. One involves intimate knowledge of the tasks in question and this allows you to have an educated discussion with the people you are delegating to. If you do not have any detailed knowledge of the tasks, the method that can be used is called either Blue Book (I think?) estimating or statistical estimating. They are more or less the same thing and involve collating information on all tasks completed previously and capturing the time it took to complete them. A list is produced which equates times to durations and this can be used as a reference to provide an idea if you can find similar tasks to the ones you are working on or wish to delegate.
Thank you Stuart, Robin & Robert for your helpful replies.
It is very useful to know what particular methods you are actually applying as there are many academic texts on the subject. These usually require data input that isnt always available and so a more practical method has to be adopted.
The above methods attend to the actual estimate process, however, methods of communicating and persuading upper mangement of the validity of these is required - a friend of mine calls this the believability factor. Also what do you do about those whom you report to who are uneducated in estimation, how do you go about convincing them of the validity of the estimates ?
Dear Paul, Couldn't help noticing what appears to be a deafening 8-month silence on your second question ... which I take to mean: (1) Yes, other people have this problem (2) No, none of us entirely know what to do about it ! If it's of any help, I've suffered the same indignity for much of my career. The small amount of wisdom I can offer is: -- Every boss is different, and the "pitch" to help convince them has to be tailored. -- Practice cutting out jargon and keeping it simple. Imagining you are explaining your conclusions to a fourteen-year-old, can help. (So can a good Presentation Skills course.) -- Some actually like to "see your working"; if you can explain to them with the minimum of technicalities how you got your figures, they are more inclined to trust them. -- If you are clearly convinced of your figures, they are more likely to be; I found some merit in Assertiveness and Negotiation training. -- Finally, you will usually outlast any boss who consistently ignores good estimation !!
"Do you see a man who is skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men." (Book of Proverbs)
We can all give of our experience - we must recognise this is our right and it is of value, it has taken our time and effort - and hassle.
As you mention there sre useful courses on 'Saying No', 'Dealing with Difficult People Boss and self)', Assertiveness, negotiating etc. definetly needed when managing people or your boss - they are so expensive though - still it is an investment in one's career.
Have you considered the Engineering MAnagemnt Partnership distance learning programme. It's v. good on organisational cultures and management styles. Log on to www.emp.ac.uk. Regards Anthony Bainbridge
