My controversial take:
Scenario: You have a 5-hour piece of work.
Can you sit down and work for 5 hours without interruption in your company? Of course not. More likely, you do an hour each day. You stopped to work on something else, attended many meetings, and did bug fixes.
🤦 Frustratingly, it takes a week to complete.
Estimating touch time here is as helpful as an ashtray on a bicycle. 🚴♀️
Your environment affects the duration far more than the time you spend doing the work.
To add insult to injury;
The debates and attempts to "improve our estimates" consume more of your capacity to work, leaving you with even less time and more interruptions.
It's time we acknowledge the truth.
Better estimation won't solve your constant distraction and slow delivery.
Only focus will.
If you want to get stuff done, protect your teams' attention.
🔎 Provide clarity by picking a #1 focus, and then remove the distractions pulling them away from it.
Use your cognitive load for genuine problems.