Why are software schedules so hard to define?

Posted by 0A0D on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by 0A0D
Published on 2011-01-08T03:00:23Z Indexed on 2011/01/08 3:59 UTC
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It seems that, in my experience, getting us engineers to accurately estimate and determine tasks to be completed is like pulling teeth. Rather than just giving a swag estimate of 2-3 weeks or 3-6 months... what is the simplest way to define software schedules so they are not so painful to define? For instance, customer A wants a feature by 02/01/2011. How do you schedule time to implement this feature knowing that other bug fixes may be needed along the way and take up additional engineering time?

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