Showing posts with label Estimation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Estimation. Show all posts

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Paint the room heuristic

The other day, my wife asked me if I could finish painting the bedroom before my conference call in 90 minutes. Naturally, I said that I could and like a good husband, I immediately got started. It wasn't until my phone rang that I realized that I hadn't made it in time. Luckily enough, it was no problem to delay the call by 30 minutes.

While I was finishing up, I realized what had happened. When my wife asked me if I could accomplish the painting in a certain amount of time, my thought process was...
  1. If I do it now, it will make her happy.
  2. If it takes a little too long, the worst that will happen is that she'll be a little grumpy until I finish, but once I'm done she'll be happy.
  3. Once I start, no one is actually going to make me stop before I'm finished... I mean, who wants a mostly painted room?!?
  4. I completely overlooked the fact that delaying the phone call could be problematic.