My team confuses effort with duration. How should we estimate?
Effort-duration confusionEffort measures work input; elapsed duration also includes availability, sequencing, and waiting. Estimate both explicitly rather than assuming that eight hours of effort always fits into one calendar day.
What to do now
- Estimate focused work hours
- Check the assignee's actual availability
- Add required waits and dependencies
- Record effort and forecast dates separately
When to escalate
Escalate when
A commitment relies on people working more hours than available.
Who decides
The project manager and relevant commitment owner
Example
An eight-hour review takes four working days when the reviewer has two available hours each day.
Mistake to avoid
Dividing effort by headcount without checking parallel work.
Prevent a repeat
Compare forecast versus actual results for comparable tasks, separating effort, elapsed time, waiting and scope change.
Suggested ApprovedFlow setup
- Tasks
- Timesheets
- Resources
Keep planned dates and assumptions with the affected task, compare recorded actuals, and attach the revised forecast for review. See the platform
Related cases
- The estimate includes coding but not testing or rework. How should we revise it?Incomplete work estimate
- How do we estimate work we have never done before?High-uncertainty estimation
- The project needs an integration, but the API has no documentation. How should we estimate?Unknown interface effort
- How do we measure PMO effectiveness?PMO activity-versus-outcome confusion