Time estimation and Pricing - These are two of the most important skills that you can develop if you are looking to advance in almost any industry. It’s been my experience that it’s not until you reach a managers level that you encounter the pricing portion of this combination. Also, while you do learn time estimation earlier in your career, it’s usually only estimating your own time as opposed to co-workers you would be in charge of. With that being said, it’s never too early to try and read up on these skills. It’s a tough transition from being held accountable only for your own results to being responsible for an entire team, but it’s the two skills that I mentioned above that are crucial to mastering this transition.

In the article below, Bill Lee makes some interesting points as far as where the responsibility in pricing lies (between team members or the manger of the team). I think this article can be expanded to include time estimation of your team as well. You can find my comments in the My Comments section immediately following the end of the article before the Author Resource Box.

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When your boss asks you how long you need to complete a task, what do you say? Do you give them the exact amount of time you think you’ll need like a good little worker? If you answered yes, then you’re most likely causing yourself more stress than you need to. How so? There are a number of reasons why you should make a realistic over-estimation of your time.

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