effort-estimator-design
Agent: Head of Design
L1 design leader (1x) responsible for design strategy, review governance, and accessibility oversight. Oversees UX Research and Content Design as sub-disciplines reporting into Design.
Department ethos: ideal-design.md
Skill Description
Estimates design effort required for features and initiatives by decomposing work into design phases, accounting for complexity, review cycles, and team capacity.
When to Use
- When a product brief or feature request needs a design effort estimate for roadmap planning.
- When sprint or cycle planning requires design capacity commitments.
- When leadership asks for a resource plan to staff a new initiative.
Workflow
- Decompose the design scope: Break the feature into design deliverables -- user flows, wireframes, visual design, prototypes, design system updates, handoff specs. Use the deliverable inventory in the estimation framework as a checklist. Deliverable: design work breakdown structure.
- Assess complexity factors: Evaluate each deliverable for novel patterns vs. existing component reuse, number of responsive breakpoints, interaction complexity, accessibility requirements, and expected review cycles. Apply complexity multipliers and review buffers from the estimation framework. Deliverable: complexity assessment per deliverable.
- Estimate effort: Assign T-shirt size or hour ranges to each deliverable based on complexity and historical team velocity. Include buffer for feedback incorporation and review rounds. Declare a confidence level (high/medium/low) per the framework's confidence criteria. Deliverable: effort estimate table with confidence level.
- Communicate estimate: Present the estimate to product and engineering with assumptions, risks, and dependencies explicitly stated. Deliverable: shared estimate document.
Anti-Patterns
- Estimating without decomposition: Giving a single number for an entire feature without breaking it into design phases. Why: monolithic estimates hide risk and make it impossible to track progress or identify where delays originate.
- Ignoring review cycles: Estimating only production time and omitting design review, stakeholder feedback, and iteration rounds. Why: review and revision typically consume 30-50% of total design time; excluding them guarantees the estimate is wrong.
- Anchoring to engineering timelines: Compressing design estimates to fit a predetermined engineering schedule rather than stating true effort. Why: underestimated design work leads to cut corners, skipped states, and accessibility gaps that cost more to fix post-launch.
Output
On success: Produces a design effort estimate document containing work breakdown, per-deliverable complexity and effort, total estimate with confidence level, assumptions, and risks. Delivered to product and engineering leads.
On failure: Report which parts of the scope could not be estimated, the missing information (unclear requirements, undefined user flows, missing design system inventory), and what is needed to produce a reliable estimate.
Related Skills
1---2name: effort-estimator-design3description: This skill estimates design effort required for features and initiatives. Use when asked to scope design work, provide time estimates for a product brief, or assess design team capacity against a roadmap. Also consider when sprint planning requires design effort inputs. Suggest when a product manager is sizing a feature without design representation.4---56# effort-estimator-design78## Agent: Head of Design910L1 design leader (1x) responsible for design strategy, review governance, and accessibility oversight. Oversees UX Research and Content Design as sub-disciplines reporting into Design.1112Department ethos: [ideal-design.md](../../../../departments/design/ideal-design.md)1314## Skill Description1516Estimates design effort required for features and initiatives by decomposing work into design phases, accounting for complexity, review cycles, and team capacity.1718## When to Use1920- When a product brief or feature request needs a design effort estimate for roadmap planning.21- When sprint or cycle planning requires design capacity commitments.22- When leadership asks for a resource plan to staff a new initiative.2324## Workflow25261. **Decompose the design scope**: Break the feature into design deliverables -- user flows, wireframes, visual design, prototypes, design system updates, handoff specs. Use the deliverable inventory in the [estimation framework](references/estimation-framework.md) as a checklist. Deliverable: design work breakdown structure.272. **Assess complexity factors**: Evaluate each deliverable for novel patterns vs. existing component reuse, number of responsive breakpoints, interaction complexity, accessibility requirements, and expected review cycles. Apply complexity multipliers and review buffers from the [estimation framework](references/estimation-framework.md). Deliverable: complexity assessment per deliverable.283. **Estimate effort**: Assign T-shirt size or hour ranges to each deliverable based on complexity and historical team velocity. Include buffer for feedback incorporation and review rounds. Declare a confidence level (high/medium/low) per the framework's confidence criteria. Deliverable: effort estimate table with confidence level.294. **Communicate estimate**: Present the estimate to product and engineering with assumptions, risks, and dependencies explicitly stated. Deliverable: shared estimate document.3031## Anti-Patterns3233- **Estimating without decomposition**: Giving a single number for an entire feature without breaking it into design phases. *Why*: monolithic estimates hide risk and make it impossible to track progress or identify where delays originate.34- **Ignoring review cycles**: Estimating only production time and omitting design review, stakeholder feedback, and iteration rounds. *Why*: review and revision typically consume 30-50% of total design time; excluding them guarantees the estimate is wrong.35- **Anchoring to engineering timelines**: Compressing design estimates to fit a predetermined engineering schedule rather than stating true effort. *Why*: underestimated design work leads to cut corners, skipped states, and accessibility gaps that cost more to fix post-launch.3637## Output3839**On success**: Produces a design effort estimate document containing work breakdown, per-deliverable complexity and effort, total estimate with confidence level, assumptions, and risks. Delivered to product and engineering leads.4041**On failure**: Report which parts of the scope could not be estimated, the missing information (unclear requirements, undefined user flows, missing design system inventory), and what is needed to produce a reliable estimate.4243## Related Skills4445- [`spec-translator-design`](../spec-translator-design/SKILL.md) -- Translating specs into design briefs is a prerequisite for accurate effort estimation.46- [`iteration-prioritiser-design`](../iteration-prioritiser-design/SKILL.md) -- Effort estimates inform prioritization of the design iteration backlog.
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