Roscoe s Rogue s Gallery

Roscoe's Rogue's Gallery

"Of course, there is the other 75 percent of the known universe. They make up the three other cases.

"First of all, there are the guys who finish more than one square root early. These varmints we call sandbaggers, and they are dangerous because they cost you moneynot by being late, but by overestimating everything. The only way to be more than one square root early is to fudge the estimate. Actually, the guy you should fire here is the boss who bought that estimate. On second thought, fire them both."

I was starting to get the idea that Mr. Leroy might revolutionize the way we thought about the problem.

"Next, we have the guys who finish between one and two square roots late. There is hope for them. They are probably just starting out, and need to hone their estimating and execution skills. They are costing us money, but with some work, we might be able to get them into the 'one square root band.' If they have some gumption, we might be able to coach them to the right place.

"And last, there are the guys who are off by more than two square roots' worth. These fellows are either out of control or have no idea how to estimate in the first place. When you have to decide whether they are just rotten estimators or actually can't manage their way out of a wet paper bag, it doesn't matter what the answer is. The only solution is to just run them off, because the train wrecks they produce will put you out of business."