Estimation Methods vs Guessing

Developers should learn estimation methods to improve project planning, reduce risks of delays or budget overruns, and enhance communication with clients and managers meets developers should learn guessing as a practical skill for situations where time constraints or incomplete information prevent detailed analysis, such as during initial prototyping, quick debugging sessions, or when making trade-offs in agile environments. Here's our take.

Estimation Methods

Nice Pick

Developers should learn estimation methods to improve project planning, reduce risks of delays or budget overruns, and enhance communication with clients and managers

Pros

• They are essential in agile environments for sprint planning, in traditional waterfall projects for upfront budgeting, and in freelancing for accurate client proposals
• Related to: agile-methodologies, project-management

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Guessing

Developers should learn guessing as a practical skill for situations where time constraints or incomplete information prevent detailed analysis, such as during initial prototyping, quick debugging sessions, or when making trade-offs in agile environments

Pros

• It helps in making informed decisions under uncertainty, but should be complemented with validation through testing or data collection to avoid errors in critical systems
• Related to: debugging, problem-solving

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Estimation Methods is a methodology while Guessing is a concept. We picked Estimation Methods based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Estimation Methods wins

Based on overall popularity. Estimation Methods is more widely used, but Guessing excels in its own space.