Date for a Date

Imagine you’re at work and someone asks you when a new project will be done. Perhaps it’s a request for an on the spot estimate. Further, imagine you have little to no idea.

I’d like to introduce you to a concept that I thought was entirely ridiculous but have since embraced: a date for a date.

A date for a date (D4D for short) is a date on which you’ll have an answer. You many not know how long a project will take, but you can probably say how long it will will take you to come up with an estimate, and, consequently, a date. So, if today is April 23rd and you’re asked when a project will complete, instead of saying “I don’t know”, say, “I’ll get you a date on April 30th”.

Did I invent this term? No. I picked it up at work, and it’s fairly common in industry.