Manager: We (meaning you) need to do task A. How long will it take?
Me: Task A will take X days to do.
Manager: That seems awful long.
Me: How long do you think it should take?
Manager: It surely could not take any longer than Y days.
Me: Ok, it seems you have an answer to your question then.
Later:
Manager: It’s been Y days, why isn’t task A done yet?
My answer to “how long will it take?” Has recently been “is it a higher priority than x,y, and z?” (While mentally deciding if it sounds more fun to work on than x y z along with t, u, v and w.
(Un)fortunately I’ve been working on the manager’s pet project, so I’ve had a semblance of focus.