Well given such constraints, your most accurate estimates are likely to come from an astrologer - or even an economist - nah! thats going a bit far. Ill stick with the astrologer.
Failing that you could do what I do when subjected to the gnashing of teeth routine. These estimates arent worth [one of Mark's this's] but the proportions are correct - just not the magnitude: First you estimate the times using the method you think would actually come up with something thats relatively accurate. This will of course give you estimates that the client won't accept. The client of course already has their own 'estimate' (they call it a deadline). You see how many hours there are until that deadline, and then allocate your estimates to add up to that based on the proportions in the 'real' estimate. Then think of something that sounds quite unlikely to occur (but is in fact 100% certain (an unexpected windows bug perhaps?)) and make a small note on the quote that if this happens it just might possibily in the worst case increase the estimates by a factor of x (where of course x is the value that the clients estimate of total work needs to be multiplied with to get the real estimate of total work...) -----Original Message----- From: Chappell, Simon P [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, 25 March 2003 22:38 To: Struts Users Mailing List Subject: RE: [OT] Estimating a Struts-based project These have all been good suggestions, but I am constrained here by a number of factors. All our estimates have to be in hours. There is screaming and wailing and gnashing of teeth if the estimate is "too big". We are not a software house, so the business gets to set schedules. We are a HIGHLY seasonal business, this forces many scheduling decisions. etc. etc. Thanks to everyone. 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]
