Full-Circle Estimating

  Estimating   Lessons Learned   Strategy   ProjectsAtWork  

While creating estimates is a fundamental step toward improving productivity on software development projects, it is not enough. Here is a full-circle model that organizations can apply to track actual performance against estimates, reforecast when significant changes occur, and then continually refine the process through post-mortem assessment.

Suppose that after much consideration, an organization puts forth an estimate with the intention of carrying it out as a project plan. At this point, many estimators would believe that they are done. However, in order to maximize the benefits of the estimate, it will be necessary to track the project’s progress through completion. While this may seem like a tedious process, project tracking allows for organizations to gain the greatest insight into their software development lifecycles.

To do this, estimators will want to collect data on the current actuals for the following metrics at regular intervals:

• Cumulative Size Produced – this metric is customizable and can include but is not limited to Source Lines of Code, Agile Stories, Screens, etc.
• Monthly Effort – the Person Months or Person Hours expended thus far
• Staff – the number of Full Time Equivalents currently billing time to the project
• Defects – how many errors were discovered

Depending on the length of the …

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