The Unpredictability of Project Estimation
Mike:
One of the hardest jobs in the software business is estimating new projects. It takes a substantial mix of experience, brute force effort, and a little luck. Estimation really is an art that refuses to be mastered, taking constant re-learning in order to improve over time. I'm by no means perfect at it (I doubt anyone really is), but I've certainly learned a lot about it over the years. Here, I'll share some of my experiences.
Software project estimation is a tough. If you get it right, great; but if you get it wrong - that's an issue. For anything but the most trivial, repetitive tasks there is no simple way. Except, math and the experience of other people. In this blog post we will describe an industry-standard Program Evaluation Review Technique that can help plan projects more realistically and even calculate expected error of estimation.