7 steps to becoming a time estimation genius

Some people really do know what time it is

We all have 24 hours in a day — no more and no less. Consequently, one of the secrets to being “good” at time management is knowing how long things take. That way you know exactly what can fit in a day, and what cannot.

It sounds simple enough, but time estimation is hard. Because time keeps passing no matter what we do, we can do things frequently and still have no idea how much time they take. Then there are all the things we don’t do frequently. Who even knows how long it will take to file an insurance claim, shop for a prom dress, or find a volunteer who can run the church picnic?

That said, I do believe it is possible to become better at time estimation. Here are a few things you can try to help ensure that you really know what time it is.

1. Try tracking your time. It may seem obvious, but tasks we do frequently probably do take similar amounts of time every time we do them. By tracking your time, you’ll see this. I promise it’s not that hard! Here’s a link to the weekly spreadsheets I’ve been using to track my time for the last 9 years (more to come on that in future Vanderhacks…).

2. Clock it. If you don’t want to track all your time, just try tracking specific tasks. Start the stopwatch on your phone when you begin something. Note the time when you stop. If you think it takes 10 minutes to get to your kid’s swim practice, but your stopwatch shows it never takes less than 15 minutes, this might be a data point to consider as you hunt for explanations for why you are always late!

3. Break things down into steps. A multi-step process will take the sum total of time that all the constituent steps take — plus perhaps some transition time too. So if you’re trying to figure out how long it will take to cook Thanksgiving dinner, or to get four kids into formal wear for a wedding, or to do your business taxes, you’ll want to think about what’s involved in each of these things, and come up with an estimate for each step. The good news is that even if you don’t know the answer for each step, thinking about how many steps might be involved can keep you from aiming too low (because the answer is probably not zero for each step).

4. Give things a range. I am guessing you wouldn’t claim that it takes 27 minutes to get to the airport. You might say it takes 25-35 minutes, depending on traffic. Many other things happen mostly within a range too. It takes me 30-60 minutes to record my Before Breakfast podcast episodes for a week, depending on how long they are, and how many times I need to stop and start. When you know the range, you can aim for the midpoint as you construct your schedule…but make sure that the top end of the range wouldn’t be a disaster.

5. Ask others. Maybe you’ve never done something before, but other people have. So crowdsource the answer. How long do you usually have to wait in line at a popular food truck? How long will that “small surgical procedure” actually take? When your new boss wants to meet for a “quick feedback session,” what does that mean? Would it be ok to schedule a meeting at the start of the next hour? No need to reinvent the wheel for many things.

6. Add a little extra. By far the most common sin with time is underestimation. So if you’d like to be more reasonable in figuring out how long something will take, add a little bit of time beyond your first guess. There are a few of us who chronically overestimate…but that’s rare. In general, building in a buffer is never a bad idea. Maybe you’ll wind up with extra time, but then what? You’ll feel a little too relaxed? Oh well.

7. Refine over time. The key with all of this is to pay attention, so you can make better time estimation choices in the future. If you can write up feedback for all your direct reports in three days this quarter, that’s probably how long it will take you next quarter too. Once you see that, you can go ahead and block those three days in ahead of the next deadline. Sure, this might not be 100 percent accurate (maybe someone’s having issues and needs more attention). But you’ll be a lot closer — and feel more confident about creating a schedule you can stick with.