Estimates
I recently called two of my best engineers into my office to chat about estimates.
“How long do you expect this to take?” I asked, leaning back in my chair.
“We’ve estimated twel—”
“Ah ah ahhh,” I interrupted, and brought my index finger down on the notepad in front of me.
I slid it across the desk. “On the pad,” I smirked.
The engineers exchanged a confused glance. The shorter one uncapped a marker and scratched down a number. Great handwriting on that kid.
“Twel—” he began.
“Ah,” I interrupted it again, “Slide it over. This is a negotiation.” A trick I had picked up in a Dale Carnegie book.
The two exchanged another look. The shorter one slid the notepad over.
“Twelve months,” I read aloud. “Twellllve months.”
“We’ve broken it down in four milestones, and while we can parallelize the first t—” the taller one began.
I uncapped the marker and crossed out the 12.
In big, bold, red lettering, I wrote next to it.
6.
“What would it take us to get here?” I said as my index finger came down on the notepad.
“I mean we could cut some sco—”
“Ah,” I said as I slid the notebook across the desk. “Come up with another number. On the pad.”
The two engineers whispered to one another. I was on my phone so I didn’t catch what they said.
The taller one brought the market down on the notepad. In slightly worse handwriting, he drew a 9. They exchanged another glance and slid the notepad across to me.
“Ha,” I smiled at the estimate. With two quick strokes of the market, I crossed out their new estimate and wrote next to it.
4.5.
As I slid the notepad over to my two fresh-faced engineers I offered some wisdom.
“We are here to win. We are not here to lose.”
They looked at each other.
“And if we don’t move twice as fast, we will lose. Halve it,” I offered with another smirk. “What will it take.”
The shorter one grabbed the notebook. A longer glance exchanged between the two.
No words exchanged, but they began to see the light.
The red marker came down on the paper in three quick strokes.
“Great handwriting on that kid,” I accidentally said aloud.
They exchanged a quick look and slide the notebook over once more.
24.
I sat back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling.
“Boys.” I started. “Boys, boys, boys.”
“I said halve. Not double.”
They looked at each other.
“And herein lies a valuable lesson,” I took the marker and stood up.
“We are here.” One quick stroke.
“To win.” Another. Louder.
“And to win,” I added as the marker came down again. The 24 crossed out.
“We must.”
“Move.”
“Faster.” With one final flick of the wrist their fate was sealed. No counter-offer here.
I slide the notepad across once more.
In big, bold, beautiful lettering.
12.
“I see it now,” the taller one added.
“Me too, thank you sir,” the shorter one joined in. “We’ll make it happen.”
—
It’s been 18 months now and, as the project nears its midway point, success is inevitable.
And all I had to do was make them go faster.