2011-01-23
Explanation
This single-panel comic is labeled "Engineering Tips" and reads: "Since project delivery times are always underestimated, you might as well lie from the beginning." A colleague asks an engineer when the interface will be finished, and rather than giving a realistic (but still inevitably wrong) estimate, the engineer says "30 seconds." When the colleague reacts with disbelief, the engineer immediately revises it downward to "25 now! Quick! Tell everyone!"
The joke is rooted in the well-known phenomenon in software engineering (and engineering in general) where project timelines are almost always underestimated. This is sometimes called the "planning fallacy" or referenced through Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law." The comic takes this to its absurd logical conclusion -- if the estimate is going to be wrong anyway, you might as well give a hilariously impossible one. The engineer's deadpan urgency in counting down from 30 seconds adds to the comedy.