Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art

Chapter 19. Special Issues in Estimating Effort

Applicability of Techniques in This Chapter

	Informal Comparison to Past Projects	Estimation Software Tools	Industry-Average Effort Graphs	ISBSG Method
What’s estimated	Effort	Effort	Effort	Effort
Size of project	S M -	S M L	S M -	S M -
Development stage	Early–Middle	Early–Middle	Early	Early
Iterative or sequential	Both	Both	Sequential	Sequential
Accuracy possible	Medium	High	Low–Medium	Low–Medium

Most projects eventually estimate effort directly from a detailed task list. But early in a project, effort estimates are most accurate when computed from size estimates. This chapter describes several means of computing those early estimates.

Influences on Effort

The largest influence on a project’s effort is the size of the software ...