Hofstadter's law

ops cultureprogramming

The self-referential rule that things always take longer than you expect, even accounting for this rule.

Its recursive twist captures why software estimates are chronically optimistic: even when you pad the estimate, the unknowns you did not imagine still find you. It is quoted, ruefully, in nearly every planning meeting that has ever slipped.

Also known as: Hofstadter's law

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