"So, when will you be done with your design?"

Jeroen Fonderie, Touchstone Semiconductor
EDN (March 4, 2013)

Not exactly the question a typical design engineer is looking forward to. You’re at the start of a new project and it is time to commit to a development schedule. Now what? Your first instinct is to be vague. Use verbs like “should” and “hope” and lots of conditional statements. But you know that’s not going to fly.  You can give your best estimate. But you’re usually too optimistic and then you will get yelled at when you don’t meet that commitment.

Or you can pad the heck out of it. At least that way you know you will not be bothered for many weeks. But now your manager and your peers may start to see you as a sandbagger whose input is not to be taken seriously. So what is the best way to come up with a schedule for the design phase of your project?

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