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What is the best way to answer my team leader, when he/she ask about how long a certain task will take, when I don't know?

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Question added by Nisreen Ahmad , dfgdhj , twst
Date Posted: 2015/08/09
PRADEEP MEHRA
by PRADEEP MEHRA , CEO , Angel international Inc.

Thanks for your invite. In my opinion every assignment has to be time bound for an organisation to survive in the present competitive environment. Therefore if you feel you are unable to set the deadlines or meet them then I would say the task assigned to you is a mistake of your team leader. They should assign tasks to those who have skills and competence to execute them. So without any offence to you. I would suggest please do not let the task get delayed and make your organisation suffer. You should be honest to admit that you are unable to take this task and another colleague who has the expertise in that area should be assigned. If I was the team leader I would appreciate your honesty that you care for the company and you are conscious of the damage that may be caused due to delay as you are not confident of how to execute the task that is why you are not able to set the time frame for its completion. 

 

Please understand every one cannot do every job. You must be assigned tasks that you are good at. I would not blame you but your team leader for their wrong decision of assigning such task to you. Be brave a professional management will not fire you for your honesty.

Gul Hameem Khan
by Gul Hameem Khan , Battagram , Head office

Your boss wants you to acknowledge that you've read his mail , and that you're already working on the task. Reply to him as follows ; “Good Morning/Good Day/Good afternoon. Thank you for the Assignment. Please indicate whether I should prioritize this as the most important on my list .

Hossam Essa
by Hossam Essa , Foxboro PAC Engineering Manager , Schneider Electric / Invensys

Hi Nisreen,

My advice is don't hurry up! Most likely, your leader will take your reply as an commitment. So if you don't know how much this task will take, then think a bit for how to guess the time.

 

There are several methods for guessing but it depends on the nature of your task.

1-  If there is a tool existing to help you in estimation then use it (but understand well how to use it)

2- Ask people who may did this task before

3- Try to identify the task requirements, try to identify task output in counts, collect similar counts together then make a pilot to estimate how much each count will take, then sum all different counts together with slightly factor of safety.

Regards,

Hossam

  

Ramesh Sehgal
by Ramesh Sehgal , Chief Financial Officer , How United Services WLL

In order to professionally respond and give a quality answer, there are many variables to it like:

Is it a repetitive task or a new one? What is the true deadline for it? If new, was I properly explained about it on choosing the right process or given a  training? Do I understand what is to be done and how? Do I have the right tools and support facilities to it? Am I confident to do it? What are my concerns? What has been my track record with my leader so far? Am I missing deadlines frequently or letting my leader down previously? If so, why? Am I overconfident ? Ask yourself does my boss trusts me in my ability to perform?

Do self analysis and prepare a professional reply and inform your leader timely including your concerns, needs a reasonable timeline or additional support required. It is an excellent opportunity for me to show my credibility for future and also learn the hidden lessons in this one question.    

Valentine Donnelly
by Valentine Donnelly , Business Operations Manager , Supreme Group

This is obviously the first time you have been requested to do the certain task, if you can give an estimate then good but explain it is only an estimate. Maybe another member of the team has completed the task previously, if so they can give you an idea on the time it will take to complete.

You could give an estimate and then explain with updates throughout what may be the hurdles you are up against, also ensure to measure the task so going forward you are in a position to give a timeline. Honesty is the best policy no matter what, nothing is worse than making a commitment you can't keep.

AMIT RAJ GOSAIN
by AMIT RAJ GOSAIN , ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION- TEAM LEADER , TATA POWER DELHI DISTRIBUTION LTD.

Dear Mam,

It all depends on how we pursues the technicalities related to that task. The best thing is do - Listen Carefully and act Smartly, i.e. on matters for providing actual corporate results - the actual time should also be analyze as well as should put forward for doing the task, without hesitation, after all we are asking time for delivering the real out put and not just to satisfy me or us.

 

muna albarghuthi
by muna albarghuthi , سكرتاريا , مكتب محامي

I told him /her that I will find that when I study the the points of task then I will give the answer

Mohamed Basem Hemedh
by Mohamed Basem Hemedh , Siren Projects Eastern Region Manager , Nextel Millennium Telecom Manager

1- If you are the owner & the one who will implement this task then you should know

2- If you this task is related to someone outpout then you should consult him

3- you can answer your boss by dividing the tasks into2 parts

 I- your execution time after receiving outpout from other persons

 II- the execution time from other involved persons/department

 

 

Kathlyn Amara Esguerra
by Kathlyn Amara Esguerra , Growth Marketer , amiscorp.ae

Turn a negative response to a positive one by saying "It will take a long time however I will do my level best to give the result as soon as possible".

اشرف فوزي
by اشرف فوزي , مشرف عام بفندق انتر كونتينتال سيتي ستارز , انتر كونتينتال سيتي ستارز

Honesty and commitment are the best answers to the team leader when not knowing the information as well as the continuous search to acquire knowledge about the parameters that I lack

Anil Kolime
by Anil Kolime , Housekeeping Manager , Hotel Royal Orchid

Before allocating any task to the TEAM we need to have TIME & TASK MANAGEMENT for every task we do, wherein every task will be completed within the given timeline and incase for not completion valid reasons will be shared for the delay, which again will help us to work on the case study (glitches) and these errors will be arrested and will not be repeated in future. TIMELINES very Important for every task.

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