Proceedings on Ticket Estimate Bargaining
The engineer said two weeks. The deadline is next week. The negotiation has begun. The estimate has not changed.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ESTIMATE REVIEW MATTER: A two-week estimate and a one-week deadline
CHAIR: Walk us through the estimate.
ENGINEER: The feature requires three components: the data model, the API layer, and the frontend. The data model requires three days, accounting for migration testing. The API layer requires four days. The frontend requires five days with integration testing. The total is twelve working days, two weeks.
CHAIR: This is a hard deadline.
ENGINEER: That doesn't change the scope.
CHAIR: Can we reduce the scope?
ENGINEER: The three components are all required for the feature to work. Removing one produces a feature that doesn't work.
CHAIR: Can we do a partial delivery?
ENGINEER: We can ship the data model first. It does nothing visible for users.
CHAIR: Can we ship the API without the frontend?
ENGINEER: Yes, but users can't access it.
CHAIR: What if another engineer helps?
ENGINEER: Adding an engineer adds coordination overhead. For this size of feature, it might reduce by two days.
CHAIR: That's twelve days.
ENGINEER: Yes.
CHAIR: The deadline is next week.
ENGINEER: That's five working days.
CHAIR: Can we make it five days?
ENGINEER: If we remove the integration testing and use placeholder data in the frontend. Then ship the real version the following week.
CHAIR: What's the risk?
ENGINEER: Missing some edge cases that testing would have caught.
CHAIR: Can we accept that risk?
ENGINEER: That's not an engineering question.
[Silence.]
CHAIR: Can we move the deadline?
ENGINEER: That's not an engineering question either.