Estimating software is absurd. How to estimate like a Galician person.
Galicia, in Spain’s northwestern corner, is one of my favorite places in the world and where my ancestors come from.
Galicians are known, sometimes jokingly, for answering questions with more questions or with a simple “it depends” when they are not completely sure. It is a small defense mechanism when dealing with strangers. There is a natural sense of mistrust, or at least caution, until the other person’s intentions are clear.
Over time, I have realized that this way of communicating is surprisingly useful in the tech industry, especially when it comes to software estimates. Estimating work often feels more like a distraction than something that truly helps the software development process.
Almost every request for an estimate starts the same way:
“Just give a rough guess. It doesn’t have to be accurate…”
This is one of the biggest lies in software engineering. The moment you say a number, it immediately becomes:
- fixed
- added to the roadmap
- shared with leadership
- remembered forever
- written in a spreadsheet no one will update
- forwarded without context
- repeated back to you in meetings you were never invited to
A few weeks later, the familiar questions appear:
- “Why are we late?”
- “Who estimated this?”
- “Can we trust engineering?”
So how do you estimate like a Galician?
When someone asks, I answer with more questions. I slow things down and clarify every detail of what is being requested, making sure everything is written down and clearly communicated. And when the question comes again, usually something like “Will it be done by next week?”, there is always the same honest answer:
It depends…
Ata logo.
¡Viva a retranca, carallo!