> From: Peter Flom

> For those of you who have written statistical programs (in > SAS, SAS IML, > or otherwise): > > How do you estimate the time it will take you to do a project? > > e.g., if the project is to create code to run some model that doesn't > exist in SAS STAT, how do you know if this will take you an > hour, a day, a week, or a year?

LOL well, we have two highly-esteemed SAS-Lers telling you to change your time units to the next order of magnitude and suggesting that you might want to spend a very productive month of your valuable career education time learning all about Project Management theory of Gant and Pert charts before trying to get some software to do the work of finding the Critical Path for you.

In my limited and not-so-humble experience as a one-person designer/programmer/tester/documentarian/clerk/slave shop, I found that when it was done was when it got done, no matter how much hair-pulling -- theirs or mine -- went on in the meantime.

I am reminded of the story where I said I'd probably get the job done in two weeks: 10 working days. So I worked on that job for three working days, was pulled off to work on another project for the next six working days and had the same people who rescheduled me knocking on my door on Day Ten of the original job asking where was the deliverable.

We're both college graduates: 10-3 = seven days work yet to be done.

I'll back up both Rhodes and Cassell: make sure that other people know that their turn-around times count in the time-to-finish.

it is, ultimately, a team effort.

Ron Fehd the macro maven CDC Atlanta GA USA RJF2 at cdc dot gov

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford, Industrialist ... and schedule them all in a row