Estimation for Agile Projects

Home  >  Articles  > 







Estimation for Agile Projects

by Mike Griffiths

January 21, 2008


While there has been much already written on agile estimation, it is an area that comes up time and time again. This article will cover the big picture view of upfront estimates and ways to engage more stakeholders in the estimation process.
 
First of all we need to understand that estimating software projects will always be problematic. It does not matter if it will be a traditional project or an agile one; software development projects are unique (we do not repeatedly build the same system) and the evaluation difficulties that make gathering upfront-requirements tricky also make scoping and estimating hard, too. So approach the problem conscious of the issues and limitations of any approach; keep in mind that early estimates will have wide ranges of variability.
 
 
As shown by Barry Boehm’s estimate convergence graph (above), at the time of Requirements Specification estimates are only likely to be in 1.5x to 0.6x of the final project cost range.



Please login/register to read the entire article.





sponsored announcements and special offers
Position yourself for success with Florida Tech's MBA in Project Management, accredited by PMI® GAC. There's no GMAT or GRE required, and you'll also qualify for 1,500 experience hours that can be used toward earning a prestigious PMP® credential.
The Enterprise PPM and PMO Blue Print. Learn strategies and best practices for taking a top-down, enterprise-wide approach to PPM processes and system deployment. To learn more and register now, click here!



"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damned fool about it."
- W. C. Fields