The analogy is nice, but I'd enhance it a little bit to emphasize the responsibility of, ahem, driver and make all of this more useful.
Unless it isn't his first trip to the city, the driver needs to reduce his optimism about the arrival time. Especially at the beginning when he has a lot of time, he needs to avoid all those tempting things like: playing with his new GPS to design the best route; exploring the new and/or intriguing parts of suburbia, changing the cars for fun and so long ...
This a million times. To continue the analogy:
Only with experience will the driver know approximately how long the drive should take. Read about the traffic all you want, but until you drive there multiple times, try not to give a set arrival time (or prepare to arrive late).
I would say the same. You need to be a local to know your way around. Until you become one, you are going to miscalculate your arrival time. This is why good developers are exponentially better than bad developers.
your comments show the power&depth of this analogy. the challenge for an effective local driver is to avoid routine and remain cautious and flexible to react to the changes in his leaned-by-heart territory: new rules, roadsigns, changes in traffic organization, self-driving cars etc.
True. I may be the best driver in Slovenia, but when I want to drive to Manhattan, I will have a bad time (pun intended). I will learn to drive there faster than somebody who is also bad in Slovenia, but I will still need my time.
