You've been asked to give an estimate about when you're gonna be able to ship some code. Fine fine, except that there's something riding on this… a trade show, seasonal deadline, etc. Point is: there's another part of the business depending on you doing a good job here.
But software estimates are notoriously inaccurate, to the degree that people frequently double or halve them depending on what they think of the team. Think about that for a sec: a change of 50% in either direction based solely on personal factors. Absolutely wild.
Part of that is that software engineers have a weird aversion to figuring out how to do better here. As a result, a lot of people never get better than off-the-cuff "I can knock that out in a week" style estimates, and develop a reputation for being inaccurate. These skills are worth learning, though, if only because giving useful estimates means that you have the time you need to do the rest of your job correctly! You can also build credibility as someone who understands how to navigate complex systems, and end up with more of a say in the processes you're a part of.
Keep Reading (22 minutes) →Around October 2023, I started growing hydroponic lettuce in my basement. I first documented my setup at Kratky in the basement, but quickly switched to a four-bucket system since 25 gallons of water was far too heavy.
In 2025, I switched from 5-gallon buckets with 3 plants each to 2-gallon buckets with 2 plants each. I also switched from an off-the-shelf nutrient to a masterblend nutrient formulated for leafy greens.
The two changes together have been phenomenal! I'm now getting around 16oz/450g of harvested lettuce per week, with minimal waste when cleaning and preparing.
I never expected it, but I'm actually ahead on system cost relative to buying the same weight of lettuce!
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