“If your estimate sucks your performance will suck as well.”  

This is something a friend and coworker said this week that rang in my head for hours after the meeting it was said in.

It is our responsibility to look forward to what needs done for a given task or objective.  If we under-estimate what it takes to do a job then we will find ourselves stressed and over burdened.  If we over-estimate what it takes then we find ourselves bored and unchallenged.  Herein lies the key to planning our work and working our plan.  We must use all available information including the feedback from others and our environment to estimate what it takes to do something to the best of our ability. It is when we fail to listen to the feedback and information readily available to us we find ourselves in trouble one way or another.