I've had similar experiences but also reversed - saying estimates are too short, adding a buffer, saying they don't seem valid and we need to account for potential issues.
But also situations where a sales person would throw an estimate to the client which would end up being the official estimate due to no pushback.
Or clients stretching the scope of a feature.
Or underestimating/lack of understanding of a feature.
Or changes from up top in the last days of building a feature.
Or the worst - overestimating due to previous experiences, where the dev team ended up on an 8 month estimate for 3 months worth of work tops which, if true, would have probably sank the company.
They can really be correct or close to truth - and useful to know what an ideal/okay/worst case is for planning, but are often then used as the holy grail and broken due to external influences.
The most useful thing about them is actual ritual of estimating, as it requires the team to mentally go through the items in the spec and align on things they usually would handwave away.
But also situations where a sales person would throw an estimate to the client which would end up being the official estimate due to no pushback. Or clients stretching the scope of a feature. Or underestimating/lack of understanding of a feature. Or changes from up top in the last days of building a feature.
Or the worst - overestimating due to previous experiences, where the dev team ended up on an 8 month estimate for 3 months worth of work tops which, if true, would have probably sank the company.
They can really be correct or close to truth - and useful to know what an ideal/okay/worst case is for planning, but are often then used as the holy grail and broken due to external influences.
The most useful thing about them is actual ritual of estimating, as it requires the team to mentally go through the items in the spec and align on things they usually would handwave away.