Practical Software Estimation Workshop

Presented by: Michael Mah

Workshop Description

The ability to accurately estimate the time/cost taken for a project to come to its successful conclusion continues to be a serious problem for the software engineering community.

In a survey conducted by Cutter Consortium of more than 100 software development organizations of varied sizes, the most common method of software estimation was -- "gut feel". Software engineers pick a number for cost and schedule estimates based on rough judgment of experienced developers nearly 50% of the time, and as a result this workshop was designed to teach attendees how they can help get software development projects in their company back on track by being able to produce better and more accurate estimates.

Attendees Will Learn About:

• Rapid, practical ways to measure the software development process
• State of the art software management
• How to develop viable project estimates and alternatives
• How to optimize against targets and quantify risk

Attendance Recommended For:

• Program and divisional managers who must minimize risk across project
• Managers who have to justify proposals to customers and developers
• Project managers seeking the best analytical and reporting techniques
• Acquisition managers who assess suppliers and bid proposals

You Will Get:

• Practical understanding through case studies and exercises
• Hands on use of project collection templates and productivity calculations

Course Agenda

Day 1

Introduction

• Overview of the problem
• The goals of measurement, estimation and control

Exercise 1, Creating an Initial Estimate

Principles in Software Estimation:

• Quantifying the process - productivity index...efficiency in development
• Staffing trade offs...how time pressure affects outcome
• Is your plan an estimate, a bid, or a goal?
• Size estimation and uncertainty

Software Estimation:

• The estimation model: phases, milestones, and defects
• Practical issues for estimating
• Mechanisms for solving scope/ deadline pairs

Exercise 2, Building your first estimate

Constraints - real world deadlines and limits

Day 2

Fine Tuning Your Estimates:

• Creating alternative scenarios
• Trading off staff vs. schedule vs. budget
• Risk planning
• "Sanity" checks of plans vs. history
• Assessing alternative solutions - how does each satisfy my business objectives?

Exercise 3, Project Sizing

Historic Data Analysis:

• Using historic data
• Baselines for estimation
• "Calibrating" your expectations

Estimation Outputs:

• Making your case to different audiences
• The role of politics
• Estimating in Waterfall vs. Agile
• Maintenance vs. Development
• Options for a project that is slipping

For more information on bringing this workshop to your organization, contact Jack Wainwright by phone at +1 781 641 5122, by fax at +1 781 648 1950, or by e-mail at sales@cutter.com.