Timon van Spronsen

Front-end developer bij Projectcampus

Painting a room

Requirements

• How big is the room?
  4 x 3 x 3, an avg. sized bed room.
• Do you already have the materials you need to paint?
  No.
• Is the room fully furnished? Are there windows/doors?
  Yes, you'll get pictures.
• What color is the room now, and what color will you be painting it?
  The room is currently blue. It needs to be painted white.

Task breakdown

• Confirm requirements (15 min.)
• Research how to paint a room (15 min.)
• Shopping list and shopping (2 hours)
• "Prototype" to make sure the original color isn't showing through (10 min. painting, 2 hours dry time)
• Remove everything near or on the walls (30 min.)
• Clean the walls (15 min.)
• Tape off all edges, protect the floors (1 hour)
• Prime the room (1,5 hours painting, 1 hour dry time)
• Paint the room (2 hours)
• Clean up (30 min.)

Total: ~12 hours

When will it be finished?

• Bathroom breaks
• Meal breaks
• Interruptions
• A sick child

Form a multiplier

• Create navigation menu (estimated 2 hours, actual 2,5 hours)
• Write body text (estimated 4 hours, actual 5 hours)
• Create a Facebook campaign (estimated 3 hours, actual 4 hours)

Multiplier = (1,25 + 1,25 + 1,33) / 3 = 1,28

Further reading

• Evidence Based Scheduling — http://goo.gl/nwFg
• Why are software development task estimations regularly off by 2-3 times? — https://goo.gl/mfaU3l