And how long will this project take?
 It is a silly thing, but when you're a Project Manager and you ask "how long will it take?", don't forget to include the dead time. This is the time when everyone's waiting for something to happen and can't do anything else. For example, it might only take 5 minutes to put a couple of components together, but if you need a few hours for the glue to set that's how long it takes.
When you get the answer double check what assumptions are in place. When I was sat in a meeting with a number of underwriters a colleague asked how long it would take to get some results out of a certain model. A couple of hours we were told, which pleased everyone. I asked what was needed. Some data, which we could get to them within the hour. So, said my colleague, we can get the results by the end of the day. No, we could get the results by the end of the following day because it took over 20 hours for the model to run.
A throw away remark revealed the true time line - and a lesson was learned. Don't ask how long it will take to do something and leave it as that - ask when the earliest is we could practically have it as well. Somewhere between the two is the right answer.
Previously on this blog...
the global leader in Contact Center Consolidation 2.0
2.0 has become a meaningless addition to already poor tag lines.
A dozen beautiful images of Saturn
Wired presents a dozen of the best images from the Cassini mission
Setting up shop in a new country: beyond the website
Building a website for multiple languages is not just about translation. It is a critical business decision that has to be taken carefully.
Why call centre staff deserve your respect
If call centre staff set the first impression for your business, why do we treat them so badly?
Becoming a Specialist? A hard decision to make ...
Specialising requires hard strategic decisions to be made about your business.
When good people move on
Losing a member of staff to another company is not necessarily a bad thing
The quest for quality in Agile Software Development
Why quality assurance remains a central part of project management, regardless of the use of Agile methods
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