The amount of tap dancing and philosophizing some developers are willing to do to dodge estimates is hilarious.

It’s a skill… a basic part and critical part of engineering. IME the common thread between objectors is that they haven’t made a consistent effort to improve — developing, iterating, and refining their estimation process over time.

Yeah, every line of code is a unique snowflake piece of undefinable research the universe has never seen, equally unknowable and inscrutably enigmatic. But the workers at EngiCorp building EngiCorp products using EngiCorp project routines and resources first, second, and third quarter of 2025 are literal world experts at EngiCorp outcomes. They very reasonably should be able to estimate EngiCorp work in Q4, and account for EngiCorp realities, providing maps of future costs that can drive EngiCorp process improvement and investment.

If I ask for a decking estimate and get back sophistry and smug incompetence, I’m not talking with a super skilled professional deck builder. Doesn’t matter how they hammer, saw, or draw.