> Ask the dev team to provide an optimistic estimate, and to then multiply by 2 to make it "realistic". On top of that, add another x2 ...

Reminds me of: Always Multiply Your Estimates by π (2021), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28667174

> ... scope creep ...

  If you want to know what Tesla does right and most of us do wrong, it's this: they ship something small, as fast as they can. Then they listen. Then they make a decision. Then they stick to it. And repeat.

  They don't make decisions any better than we do. That's key. It's not the quality of the decisions that matters. Well, I mean, all else being equal, higher quality decisions are better. But even if your decisions aren't optimal, sticking to them, unless you're completely wrong, usually works better than changing them.