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When I'm told "I don't like that estimate" I take it as an invitation to negotiate (same as when you don't like a quote from a tradesman) and so counter with "OK, we may be able to shave x off of it if you give us y and z in addition to what we have now or if we cut w out of the scope".

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This turns into nickel and diming, then bike shedding. For me, it's easier not to enter the process

And then a year later I’m the only one who can remember that the reason we are in the middle of a grotesque rewrite is that we got a promise from management that we could treat all X as Y and they didn’t keep their word because that was last year and this is now.

Why can’t you idiots figure out how to code?

I have told a few people that when we substituted their judgment for mine this became their problem. I really think I should have said it more often.

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