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Applied Software Project Management
book

Applied Software Project Management

by Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene
November 2005
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
324 pages
13h 21m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Applied Software Project Management

Chapter 3. Estimation

Many people have referred to estimation as a "black art." This makes some intuitive sense: at first glance, it might seem that estimation is a highly subjective process. One person might take a day to do a task that might only require a few hours of another's time. As a result, when several people are asked to estimate how long it might take to perform a task, they will often give widely differing answers. But when the work is actually performed, it takes a real amount of time; any estimate that did not come close to that actual time is inaccurate.

To someone who has never estimated a project in a structured way, estimation seems little more than attempting to predict the future. This view is reinforced when off-the-cuff estimates are inaccurate and projects come in late. But a good formal estimation process, one that allows the project team to reach a consensus on the estimates, can improve the accuracy of those estimates, making it much more likely that projects will come in on time. A project manager can help the team to create successful estimates for any software project by using sound techniques and understanding what makes estimates more accurate.

Elements of a Successful Estimate

A sound estimate starts with a work breakdown structure (WBS). A WBS is a list of tasks that, if completed, will produce the final product. The way the work is broken down dictates how it will be done. There are many ways to decompose a project into tasks. The project can be broken ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596009488Errata