The main example I can think of is realizing “hm, the amount of time I spend on X is very different from normal.” For example, in Nick Winter’s recent book he mentions that after he started timing his showers, he was able to take them in less than 2 minutes. I had no reference point for that- I wasn’t even sure how long my showers took- and it happened that I normally spent about 20 minutes in the shower, and fairly quickly was able to get it down to 5 minutes.
I don’t think that’s a particularly compelling example, though, and don’t expect that I would personally use this repository. (I stopped timing my showers and trying to make them shorter when I realized they were a major source of physical pleasure in my life, and making them shorter and more stressful was a terrible idea for me. Someone who doesn’t enjoy taking a shower as much would probably gain from applying that time to something else.)
Yes. And people have been having fruitful insights while bathing since the time of Archimedes. Surely it’s worth spending a little heat and water to have time to think?
Should we respond with what is our experience (classic Outside View framing—how long did this take me last time?) or what we think is ‘average’? (How long does the average project in this reference class take?
Of course, your mileage may vary. I’d propose that instead of giving only one (expected) time, there should be a low and a high estimate (e.g. such that you’re quite certain the task will take longer than X but less than Y for most people).
Should we respond with what is our experience (classic Outside View framing—how long did this take me last time?) or what we think is ‘average’? (How long does the average project in this reference class take?)
Meta (adding a category note so meta comments don’t clog the repository.)
Can someone tag the parent with the “repository” tag?
Can someone give an example of a situation where they would use this repository?
The main example I can think of is realizing “hm, the amount of time I spend on X is very different from normal.” For example, in Nick Winter’s recent book he mentions that after he started timing his showers, he was able to take them in less than 2 minutes. I had no reference point for that- I wasn’t even sure how long my showers took- and it happened that I normally spent about 20 minutes in the shower, and fairly quickly was able to get it down to 5 minutes.
I don’t think that’s a particularly compelling example, though, and don’t expect that I would personally use this repository. (I stopped timing my showers and trying to make them shorter when I realized they were a major source of physical pleasure in my life, and making them shorter and more stressful was a terrible idea for me. Someone who doesn’t enjoy taking a shower as much would probably gain from applying that time to something else.)
Yes. And people have been having fruitful insights while bathing since the time of Archimedes. Surely it’s worth spending a little heat and water to have time to think?
I wanted to save time on doing time estimates of tasks when blocking them into a calendar.
Should we respond with what is our experience (classic Outside View framing—how long did this take me last time?) or what we think is ‘average’? (How long does the average project in this reference class take?
Of course, your mileage may vary. I’d propose that instead of giving only one (expected) time, there should be a low and a high estimate (e.g. such that you’re quite certain the task will take longer than X but less than Y for most people).
Should we respond with what is our experience (classic Outside View framing—how long did this take me last time?) or what we think is ‘average’? (How long does the average project in this reference class take?)