📝Log working time to improve your estimates

To improve your estimation skill, it is useful to track your time working on a task and to compare it with the original estimate.

The full algorithm is as follows:

• Estimate a task and write down your estimate.

• Do the task and log the time spent. This can be done with different precision ranging from days to hours to minutes (there are multiple apps for logging time).

• After the task is complete, compare the time logged with the estimate and note the difference.

This can be done with tasks of any size, and it is useful even for the smallest tasks (“it took an hour but I thought I would finish in 15 minutes” or “it took 15 minutes but I thought I would finish in 5”).

See also

• § Feedback loop. This practice creates a feedback loop, so you get to know how far off you are with your estimates and can improve (Feedback (loop) is a requirement for improvement).

• § Deliberate Practice. This may be considered a form of deliberate practice.