13. Refocusing: 90% Done Is Not Almost Done
Back when I was a new developer, my boss asked me how long it would take to complete a specific task. I looked at it for about 20 seconds, and said “Four weeks.” “Great,” he said.
At the end of the first week, I was 25% done—that’s what I reported on my status report. At the end of the second week, I was 50% done.
At the end of the third week, I was 75% done. At the end of the fourth week, I was 90% done. At the end of the fifth week, I was 92% done.
At the end of the sixth week, when I reported I was 92.5% done, my manager finally took pity on me.
“Johanna, do you know when you will be done?”
“Nope. Not a clue.”
“Would you like a little help learning how to know when you’ll be done?”
“You bet!” ...
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