Rule to display a date difference in natural language

Question

I am trying to find the best way to naturally display, in a list mode, the date difference between a "supposed start date" vs today date in natural language.

The output would be displayed only if the project is late.

I have a project with a delay that is:

• less than 13 days, the result should be expressed in days (possible display: 9 days late)
• between 14 days and 28 days, the result should be expressed in weeks (possible display: 2 weeks late)
• between 28 days and 365 days, the result should be expressed in months (possible display: 3 months late)
• more than 365 days, the result should be expressed in years by steps (possible display: more than a year late)

Is this the best way to display information?

Is it ok to give a macro picture instead of a detailed view right away? For example, displaying 2 weeks late instead of 2 weeks and 2 days.

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

Without knowing the full context of your question, I would start off with the lowest common denominator and expand out from there to a maximum of two levels. What I mean could be expressed by the following rules or formulas:

• w days late (where w = 1 to 6)
• x weeks, w days late (where x = 1 to 3, w = 1 to 6)
• y months, x weeks late (where y = 1 to 11, x = 1 to 3)
• z years, y months late (where z = 1 or above, y = 1 to 11)

So, using the above formulas, the following examples follow:

• 3 days late; 6 days late
• 1 week late; 1 week, 4 days late; 2 weeks, 1 day late
• 1 month late; 1 month, 2 weeks late; 2 months, 1 week late
• 1 year late; 1 year, 2 months late

In other words, you're only expressing at most two sets of values. That is, you wouldn't express something like 1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days late.

Hope this provides some food for thought.