Five Core Metrics: The Intelligence Behind Successful Software Management

Chapter 12. Turning Your Range Estimate Into Your Client’s Point Bid

At the end of Chapter 10, we had an estimate of functionality expressed in some measure of size. Actually, this estimate was not a single number; it covered a range of possible sizes. We also had an estimate of process productivity. Again, this estimate covered a range. From these two uncertain values, plus all the uncertainties of a development situation in general, clients expect us to bid a single number. In this chapter, we look at the effect these uncertainties have on the business bid:

• The single time-effort curve depicted in Figure 11-1, between the Impossible and Impractical regions, is in reality supplemented by a series of curves parallel to it, as shown by figures ...