What I find especially interesting is that if you go back to the description of the work that was expected, it is a correct high-level description of what ended up needing to be done: "hauling the washing machine into position and connecting it to water and power".
When we perform tasks like time estimation we're forced to use high-level mental models. But just as abstractions in code leak, so too do low-level details sometimes influence high-level considerations in unexpected ways. The "hauling" high-level description ended up being quite adequate, but the "connecting" part hid details that were relevant for the task of time estimation.
When we perform tasks like time estimation we're forced to use high-level mental models. But just as abstractions in code leak, so too do low-level details sometimes influence high-level considerations in unexpected ways. The "hauling" high-level description ended up being quite adequate, but the "connecting" part hid details that were relevant for the task of time estimation.