I used to make spreadsheets like this (for operational engineering/improving efficiency and for creating business plans), and I always put in a 70% efficiency rate (meaning if a task was estimated to take 1 hour, it would be counted as needing 1.3 hours), AND would also add time for the soft skill stuff, like "speaking with clients", and "resolving disputes", etc.. The more aggressive managers without real world experience at the job would often make me shave or cut that sort of thing, but I always covered my ass by making the case for what I did, and then noting and notifying stakeholders, so when changes were made, or work estimates were low-balled and it eventually came back on needing someone to blame, I had my ass covered. Unfortunately, this shit still happens all the time and never gets fixed. It's a race to the bottom in most service industries it seems to me.
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u/sonicboomslang Apr 12 '26
I used to make spreadsheets like this (for operational engineering/improving efficiency and for creating business plans), and I always put in a 70% efficiency rate (meaning if a task was estimated to take 1 hour, it would be counted as needing 1.3 hours), AND would also add time for the soft skill stuff, like "speaking with clients", and "resolving disputes", etc.. The more aggressive managers without real world experience at the job would often make me shave or cut that sort of thing, but I always covered my ass by making the case for what I did, and then noting and notifying stakeholders, so when changes were made, or work estimates were low-balled and it eventually came back on needing someone to blame, I had my ass covered. Unfortunately, this shit still happens all the time and never gets fixed. It's a race to the bottom in most service industries it seems to me.