There is a sentence clients do not love:
“I’ll let you know when it’s done.”
It sounds vague.
It sounds slippery.
It sounds suspiciously like someone has absolutely no idea what they are doing.
Sometimes, though, it means the opposite.
Sometimes it means:
I know exactly what I’m doing. I just don’t yet know how long every part of doing it is going to take.
Because technical creative work has a nasty little habit of looking very straightforward before you start.
“Just a couple of small alterations.”
Famous last words.
Reduce the shoulder.
Adjust the neckline.
Fix the sleeve.
Lovely.
Except the shoulder affects the neckline.
The neckline changes the balance.
The sleeve suddenly looks different.
You change one thing, then another, then spend ten minutes wondering whether the two changes have politely cancelled each other out.
Then you measure again.
Then you stare at it.
Then you stare at it from slightly further away, because apparently distance is now part of the technical process.
This is where estimating gets awkward.
A professional says:
“I should have it done this afternoon.”
The perfectly reasonable next question is:
“Roughly what time?”
And because you are trying to be helpful, you say:
“Maybe around four.”
Excellent.
Four has now undergone a mysterious transformation.
It began life as a hopeful little estimate and has somehow emerged as a deadline.
Then four arrives and you are still working.
Now it looks as though you have missed a commitment.
When what you actually missed was the opportunity to say:
I don’t know yet.
And this is where conscientious professionals can get themselves into trouble.
We don’t want to sound vague.
We don’t want to sound disorganised.
We want to give people useful information about when they can expect their work.
So sometimes we give certainty where certainty doesn’t actually exist.
Then the work takes the amount of time the work takes, and suddenly everyone is frustrated.
Including us.
There is, of course, a difference between genuine uncertainty and poor service.
A professional should communicate.
They should give you a realistic window.
They should tell you when something materially changes.
They should not vanish into the mist for three weeks and return claiming the sleeve needed “space to reveal itself.”
But there are some jobs where an exact finishing time simply cannot be known before all the decisions have been made.
And in those moments, the most accurate answer really is:
I’ll let you know when it’s done.
Not because nothing is happening.
Because quite a lot is happening.
And unfortunately, none of it has agreed to finish at exactly 4:00pm.
Such is life behind the seams.
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