I did, I just worded it poorly. :-) None of the projects ever came in late. And in all but 3 cases, the overestimate was by less than 20%.
One has to be careful to clarify what I was estimating. This was usually when asking a developer to estimate his effort to get a feature into a shrink-wrapped (or other) commercial software product. The time includes all design, prototyping and implementation time as well as all bug-fixing time required on that feature to make it "ready for prime time". It also includes programmers documentation and programmers contribution to product documentation for that feature, as well as sick time and acts of God. In other words, there are a lot of schedule costs that simply don't occur to a developer when you ask for an estimate. And these little extra bits of time add up to staggering project overruns if you aren't careful. Of course, you also have to be careful with WHO you apply these estimate corrections to. More senior developers probably factor many of these items into their estimates. But if you're looking for a one-size-fits-all estimating rule, I find this to be a handy upper-bound. BTW, I have never had the courage to recommend that a 2 month project be budgeted for 4 years, although there are times when I wish I had. :-) Jefficus ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Graham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 3:51 PM Subject: Re: [OT] Estimating a Struts-based project > But how close were your estimates? You didn't say how far below the > estimate you usually ended up. > > David > > > > >From: "Jeff Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: "Struts Users Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "Struts Users Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: Re: [OT] Estimating a Struts-based project > >Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 15:47:27 -0700 > > > >What? You don't increment the units as well? > > > >If I am looking for a safe estimate and a developer tells me 2 weeks, I > >automatically plan for 4 months. In all my years of experience I have NEVER > >gone over estimate with this method and I have been only been over by more > >than 20% 3 times in about 80 projects. > > > >Sad but true. > > > >Jefficus > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Mark Galbreath" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "'Struts Users Mailing List'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 10:31 AM > >Subject: RE: [OT] Estimating a Struts-based project > > > > > > > Okay, now double your estimate and you have a starting figure. > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Chappell, Simon P [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 12:21 PM > > > To: Struts Users Mailing List > > > Subject: RE: [OT] Estimating a Struts-based project > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > > > >From: James Mitchell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 11:18 AM > > > >To: Struts Users Mailing List > > > >Subject: Re: [OT] Estimating a Struts-based project > > > > > > <snip> > > > > > > >Did you factor in the time for writing/maintaining tests? > > > > > > I'm hurt that you even felt you had to ask! ;-) > > > > > > Yes. As far as is possible, I have people write unit tests for code > >(before > > > if possible) and we are in the process of selecting further testing > >tools > > > for good stuff like functional testing, load testing and performance > > > testing. > > > > > > Simon > > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Simon P. Chappell [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Java Programming Specialist www.landsend.com > > > Lands' End, Inc. (608) 935-4526 > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
