Estimation and Closure

A lot of us are uncomfortable with doubt and uncertainty. Estimation is a way for us to put a fence of certainty around the inherent uncertainty of software development. However, coming up with a date for when a task will be done, does not remove the uncertainty, it just hides it.


From Fundamentals of Software Engineering (Second Edition) by Carlo Ghezzi, Mehdi Jazayeri, Dino Mandrioli:

Estimation is always accompanied by the risk of being wrong.