Estimation

Approaches for

Effective & Pragmatic Project Estimation and Planning

One of the core competencies of RGCG surrounds assisting teams estimate and plan their software projects. That includes aspects of estimating work, building plans, and building schedules both from an initial perspective, and then setting up the processes to make effective adjustments along the projects' evolution. That latter point is probably one of the more challenging aspects of software project management.

There are a few central tenets to out approach:

	Planning is essential for every project. By plan I don't mean a schedule, but I do mean charter development, strategy development and plan development.
	Large-scale projects can make use of the same approaches as smaller scale projects, even in process heavy or formality heavy domains.
	Agile methods provide techniques that are crucial in real-time monitoring and making adjustments, essential for guiding projects towards success.
	The key to good estimation is not in the tools, formal techniques, historical data or the algorithms, but in engaging your team in the estimating & planning process via workshops.

We're also unique in that we have broad and deep understanding across all elements of the SDLC. We'll bring competency in:

Requirements Management
Architecture
Construction
Testing
Configuration Management
Deployment

to your planning efforts - ensuring that you have solid plans across all of the functional areas of your team.

Workshops

We have several workshops that provide training around software project estimating and planning. All use collaborative, team-based planning as the central theme for teaching a wide variety of techniques. Our upcoming book is a consolidation and culmination of experience gained in presenting the workshops and in our consulting practice. More information is available on our training page.

Forthcoming Book

"Just Right" Software Planning and Estimation - Pragmatic Techniques That Work

Beyond this, I'm also developing a book for Pragmatic Bookshelf. JRSP&E looks to cut through the encyclopedias of traditional methods and the hype of agile methods to truly provide a pragmatic and usable set of estimating and planning tools for the software-centered Project Manager.

It captures my core beliefs surrounding successful project management and intersects traditional, iterative, and agile estimation & planning approaches, including -

	A focus on the Project Charter and the chartering process as the very best way to start your projects
	A survey of Agile methodologies and their mapping towards and use within more "traditional" projects
	A thorough treatment of Wideband Delphi and Agile Card-based estimation & planning approaches
	Examples of how to focus on software testing within your plans - creating test driven results
	A practical treatment of PSP, Function Points, and Use Case points as approachable techniques for sizing your software
	Lessons on how to truly "connect" projects to stakeholders, to improve their understanding, support and guidance

Resources

This web page will serve as a focal point for the books' resources and references during development and after publication. It's my intent to provide on-going and evolving pragmatic advice here for the software practitioner and project manager who are tasked to "manage" their projects.

Here are a few useful reference links:

Look for more information to be forthcoming...

QAI India - 2006 Software Estimation Colloquium

I was recently lucky enough to be involved with QAI India's first Software Estimation Colloqium 2006. I had a part to play in setting the Conference Theme of the event and also served as a judge for their Best Paper awards.

The papers for the event can be found - http://www.qaiasia.com/tempdata/cd_sec_2006/index.htm There are some outstanding topics that warrant your review. Enjoy!

[Home]

admin@rgalen.com