This is one of my favorite spots on the map. The mountainrange is dividing a big part of the north from southern region called Westphalia. Only one river breaks through it allowing for an easy way across the mountains. The citys name at that spot is Porta Westfalica which is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". I think this visualization illustrates the reason behind the name very well.
This is a water gap, a feature which is commonly formed from a river older than the mountain range. In combination with that older river, in this case, the specific location was caused by "subrosion (a general expression applied to karst processes influencing the course of a river) and..meltwater channels at low altitudes" (Rohde 1994, Martini et al 2002-page 285).
-- Rohde P, 1994. Weser und Leine am Berglandrand zur Ober- und Mittelterrassen-Zeit E&G Quaternary Science Journal 44(1): 106–133, DOI 10.3285/eg.44.1.10.
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If memory serves me right, the mountains are a result of the last big ice age. Everything north was completely covered in a glacier. So the river beeing older does not seem unlikely.
I haven't the faintest[0], monsigneur "I'm pretty sure I've read articles about pie menus being designed by someone with your name during my interaction design master" ;)
Did you know you can enter your first name into Wolfram Alpha and it will guess your age, based on US birth statistics. So it's a shot in the dark with Dutch names.
It's completely off, haha, since I emigrated. But my grandfather did indeed come from Scheveningen, which lies inside that one hotspot. There are basically a handful of last names that up to a few generations ago were as good as unique to that fishing village, and Van der Zwan is one of them. I try not to think too much about the genetic implications of that fact.
(now I wonder how you knew that "Kees" is a Dutch name)
Being pretty young and just getting used to making estimates, this was a wonderful read!
Having to guess how long a project will take is still very scary for me. Is there any way to get over the fear of others disagreing? I always feel like I'm about to embarrass myself by either estimating to high or to low...
It sounds to me like what you really should be learning isn't how to estimate, but rather how to change your mindset on disagreement. Disagreement is a good thing, not a bad thing. Learning how to change your own mind is a very useful skill that requires disagreement. When organizational disagreement stops, so does organizational growth. Be friendly and kind to people who you disagree with, and ask lots of questions to better understand their thinking.
No better way to learn than by trial and error. If your team is reasonable they will point out why something is easier or harder than you thought. And that's part of learning so you shouldn't feel bad about it. Would you be upset at a child learning a second language or an instrument? No, that's why they are learning because they don't know. The worst thing you can do is not try to estimate. Just make sure to do your homework, whatever that means for your projects: look at existing code, try to do a detailed breakdown that shows why you think it takes this long, read API docs etc.
Use your best judgment and make sure that every line item in your estimate is defensible. "I used the best information that I had access to, happy to add your information if it's better" is a good response to a challenge.
Surface uncertainty rather than hiding it, and fight for the time to resolve uncertainty before committing to a timeline. Fight to shrink the assignment if it seems too large.
