Are Estimates Actually Valuable?

Our viewer yugr wrote some very thoughtful comments reacting to our previous video on developer metrics. We decided to answer with a video – and here it is.

Brief:

• each practice has an applicability domain, advantages, and disadvantages
• estimates are no different
• the no-estimates camp and the must-estimates camp don’t understand each other because they discuss about completely different contexts
• there are contexts in which estimates do not bring value. For example when the estimation error is higher than the estimate
• the culture is important as well; honest estimates are hurt when managers or customers negotiate them instead of negotiating the associated risks or the scope