Meme: 6 to 8 Weeks
Originator: Jeff AtwoodJeff Atwood
First Heard: May 13th, 2008
Cultural Height: In about 6 to 8 weeks
Definition: The time estimate given "off the top of my head" when the Stack Overflow team has only a vague idea of how long a task will take because they have little-to-no formal scheduling or even a list of tasks.
Background:
Taken from the transcript of Podcast 005, from 03 min 18 secs
Atwood: Some people have been asking about scheduling, and I want to clarify, I've been telling people six to eight weeks until we get to what we call our private beta of Stack Overflow […] and I've also been getting some very very nice emails from people that want to help in some way and contribute, and I've been inviting those people into our private beta later on. So—
Spolsky: Wait how do you invite what? Through what mechanism do you invite them into our private beta?
Atwood: Basically they email me directly and then, I add them to the list. And then six weeks from now—
Spolsky: Oh. And you have like a notepad file type thing.
Atwood: Pretty much, it's just a basic text file. But yeah, it's hard to manage having a bunch of people contributing at this point, cause we're still in very much the formative of stages. But certainly once we get into private beta, I want tons of people to look at it and provide feedback at that point. So if you can postpone your desire for about six weeks, uh, we'll get you.
Spolsky: So how do you get this 6 to 8 weeks? What's this based on? Did you like make some tasks that you want to complete?
Atwood: uh no, I er… That's just sort of… off the top of my head.
Spolsky: [laughs] Well okay, you're doomed Jeff. There's some controversy. You, sir, are doomed, because you don't know what things you have to do.
Atwood: Yes. I know, I know.
Reference: Podcast 005
Related: What is the origin of "6 to 8 weeks" and is it really the Crazy Frog?What is the origin of "6 to 8 weeks" and is it really the Crazy Frog?
