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The Estimating Challenge
Poor project estimation remains a major challenge for software organizations, and they’re shifting away from overtime as a remedy, according to a new Cutter Consortium survey.
In 2002, the most common remedy for project schedule problems was overtime. Six years later, a new Cutter Consortium survey shows that fix has fallen out of favor. When projects run into scheduling problems now, the two most common remedies are extending the schedule and reducing functionality, with overtime relegated to third place, followed by adding staff. This represents a distinct change from 2002, when Cutter conducted an identical survey.
"Previously we found overtime to be the most common response to project underestimation, followed by schedule extension, adding development staff, removal of product features, and the reduction of quality — indicated by less testing, for example,” says Cutter Consortium senior consultant E.M. Bennatan, who spearheaded both surveys. “When we reran this survey in late 2008, we discovered that schedule extension and feature removal have been elevated to the top of the list. This indicates broader acceptance of project estimation conclusions, particularly during — rather than before — development. To a large degree, the shift away from adding overtime indicates a positive change in culture. Organizational …
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