> How long does it take you to go to the store? Yes you might die in the process and take ∞ time, but one normally considers common inconveniences in this. A senior who can't estimate isn't a senior.
A senior who can't navigate the politics around estimating is missing key skills. But they still can't estimate. To estimate something you have to know what you are building and the steps to take to build it in advance. Senior engineers usually don't have enough political weight to stop that changing half way through a project and therefore cannot provide estimates. They can estimate hypothetical scenarios that are unlikely to happen.
A senior who can't navigate the politics around estimating is missing key skills. But they still can't estimate. To estimate something you have to know what you are building and the steps to take to build it in advance. Senior engineers usually don't have enough political weight to stop that changing half way through a project and therefore cannot provide estimates. They can estimate hypothetical scenarios that are unlikely to happen.