Start With Silence

  Estimating   ProjectsAtWork  

Accurate software estimating starts with silence, considers everything, and concludes with clarification.

Nothing gets a software project manager into trouble faster than a bad estimate. If software is not done on time, customers are left waiting and senior management is left fuming. Remember, your success isn't determined solely by what you deliver. Success also also depends on whether you meet your estimates. If you estimated a feature will take one month, and it took three weeks, you succeeded. If you estimated the feature required two weeks, you failed. In both cases, the work is the same. The difference is in the estimating.

Bad estimates are often the province of the inexperienced and overly optimistic. With experience comes the understanding that engineering tasks are usually more difficult than they first look. Don't be too bold with your estimates. Remember this saying: "There are bold engineers and old engineers, but there are no old bold engineers."

There is certainly no magic bullet for estimating, but there are techniques to make estimation more of a straight shot.

Think About It

Haste is the most common reason estimates are wrong. Often, management and marketing people call in a project manager to discuss a proposed new product or feature. After a while, someone inevitably asks, "How long will it take to implement?" And, sure enough, the project manager…

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