Estimation (project management)
Encyclopedia
In project management
(i.e., for engineering
), accurate estimates are the basis of sound project planning
. Many processes have been developed to aid engineers in making accurate estimates, such as
Popular estimation processes for software projects include:
Project management
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
(i.e., for engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
), accurate estimates are the basis of sound project planning
Project planning
Project planning is part of project management, which relates to the use of schedules such as Gantt charts to plan and subsequently report progress within the project environment....
. Many processes have been developed to aid engineers in making accurate estimates, such as
- Analogy based estimation
- CompartmentalizationCompartmentalization (engineering)When referring to engineering, compartmentalization is the general technique of separating two or more parts of a system to prevent malfunctions from spreading between or among them....
(i.e., breakdown of tasks) - Delphi methodDelphi methodThe Delphi method is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.In the standard version, the experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds...
- Documenting estimation results
- Educated assumptions
- Estimating each task
- Examining historical data
- Identifying dependencies
- Parametric estimating
- Risk assessment
- Structured planning
Popular estimation processes for software projects include:
- CocomoCOCOMO**********************************************************************************************The Constructive Cost Model is an algorithmic software cost estimation model developed by Barry W. Boehm...
- CosysmoCosysmoThe Constructive Systems Engineering Cost Model was created by Ricardo Valerdi while at the University of Southern California Center for Software Engineering. It gives an estimate of the number of person-months it will take to staff systems engineering resources on hardware and software projects...
- Event chain methodologyEvent chain methodologyEvent chain methodology is an uncertainty modeling and schedule network analysis technique that is focused on identifying and managing events and event chains that affect project schedules...
- Function points
- Program Evaluation and Review TechniqueProgram Evaluation and Review TechniqueThe Program ' Evaluation and Review Technique, commonly abbreviated PERT, is a statistical tool, used in project management, that is designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project...
(PERT) - Proxy Based Estimation (PROBE) (from the Personal Software ProcessPersonal Software ProcessThe Personal Software Process is a structured software development process that is intended to help software engineers understand and improve their performance, by using a "disciplined, data-driven procedure"...
) - The Planning Game (from Extreme ProgrammingExtreme ProgrammingExtreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...
) - Weighted Micro Function PointsWeighted Micro Function PointsWeighted Micro Function Points is a modern software sizing algorithm invented by Logical Solutions in 2009 which is a successor to solid ancestor scientific methods as COCOMO, COSYSMO, maintainability index, cyclomatic complexity, function points, and Halstead complexity...
(WMFP) - Wideband DelphiWideband delphiThe Wideband Delphi estimation method is a consensus-based technique for estimating effort. It derives from the Delphi Method which was developed in the 1940s at the RAND Corporation as a forecasting tool...
See also
- Estimation in software engineeringEstimation in software engineeringThe ability to accurately estimate the time and/or cost taken for a project to come in to its successful conclusion is a serious problem for software engineers. The use of a repeatable, clearly defined and well understood software development process has, in recent years, shown itself to be the...
- Software development effort estimationSoftware development effort estimationSoftware development efforts estimation is the process of predicting the most realistic use of effort required to develop or maintain software based on incomplete, uncertain and/or noisy input...
- Comparison of development estimation softwareComparison of development estimation softwareA comparison of notable Software development effort estimation software.-See also:* Software Sizing* Software metric* Software development effort estimation* Software parametric models* Cost estimation models...
- Cognitive biasCognitive biasA cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable...
- Decision makingDecision makingDecision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
- Decision making softwareDecision making softwareDecision-making software is a term integrating decision analysis tools to facilitate a person's decision-making process, which results in a choice of a course of action or a variant among several alternatives...
- Work Breakdown StructureWork breakdown structureA work breakdown structure , in project management and systems engineering, is a deliverable oriented decomposition of a project into smaller components. It defines and groups a project's discrete work elements in a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project.A work...
- Project managementProject managementProject management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end , undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value...
- List of project management software
- Software metricSoftware metricA software metric is a measure of some property of a piece of software or its specifications. Since quantitative measurements are essential in all sciences, there is a continuous effort by computer science practitioners and theoreticians to bring similar approaches to software development...
- Wideband DelphiWideband delphiThe Wideband Delphi estimation method is a consensus-based technique for estimating effort. It derives from the Delphi Method which was developed in the 1940s at the RAND Corporation as a forecasting tool...
- GuesstimateGuesstimateGuesstimate is an informal English contraction of guess and estimate, first used by American statisticians in 1934 or 1935. It is defined as an estimate made without using adequate or complete information, or, more strongly, as an estimate arrived at by guesswork or conjecture...
- Ballpark estimate
- Construction Estimating SoftwareConstruction Estimating SoftwareConstruction estimating software is computer software designed for contractors to estimate construction costs for a specific project. An estimator will typically use estimating software to estimate their bid price for a project, which will ultimately become part of a resulting construction contract...