Software Estimation Without Guessing

Imagine a Better Situation

Picture in your mind’s eye the scene where someone asks someone else for an estimate. What do you see?

You probably envision two people facing each other, looking in opposite directions. This sets a scene ripe for confrontation. Or perhaps they don’t make the request in person, so the estimator is receiving a disembodied request. How impersonal and how easy it is to respond without considering the person at the other end.

Now let’s zoom out to the larger picture surrounding estimation. There is a need to make a decision, and an estimate might help inform that decision. Therefore, someone may ask someone else to perform an estimate. That person comes up with an estimate and reports it back. The first person responds ...