Why Software Estimation Is More Important Now Than Ever

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In a world trending away from traditional waterfall and toward agile development methodologies, it would be understandable to assume that there is no longer a need for software project estimation. Many agile practitioners feel there’s no value in estimation, since they are already working with smaller increments and sprints and grooming their backlogs.

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However, that assumption would be wrong.

In a recent interview, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, the founders of Scrum, were asked about the #NoEstimate movement. Schwaber believes a more appropriate term may be #NoMeaningfulCommitments. He feels that people often confuse estimation with commitments and that, in fact, estimates should be used in making commitments. Sutherland mentioned a recent Rally (now CA) survey that asked members of 70,000 scrum teams about the estimation techniques they used and then correlated those techniques with speed of delivery. They found that those that eschewed estimates altogether yielded some of the slowest delivery times, while those that employed scope-based estimation delivered the fastest results.

These findings indicate that estimation may very well be more important today than ever before, even to agile practitioners. Many development projects are becoming larger and more complex, making it increasingly challenging for teams to ascertain and meet realistic deadlines. Meanwhile, senior executives are demanding accurate cost estimates to help them define their annual budgets and determine whether or not a project is feasible and matches with business needs. All of this is true regardless of the software development methodology being used.

Instead of abandoning software estimation, organizations should focus on estimating better. Practicing top-down, macro-level estimation, and exclusively focusing on some core metrics can help managers gain more control of their projects and develop realistic development scenarios. This will result in projects that meet managers’ expectations and are delivered on time and on budget.

Before taking a closer look at these best practices, however, it would be helpful to understand why teams continue to struggle with software estimation in the first place. As it turns out, there are a number of reasons why project managers have a difficult time with the process.

They tend to be overly optimistic.

Project managers and software developers tend to have very sunny views of the projects they are working on. There appears to be a natural tendency to overestimate their ability to create, deliver, and do projects right the first time around. They assume that everything will go great, and that no speed bumps will get in their paths.

Unfortunately, roadblocks inevitably will pop up. There will be interruptions, unanticipated schedule changes, and other unforeseeable conditions that will impact development.

Thus, managers make two mistakes.

First, they fail to leverage historical data from similar projects, particularly in regards to staffing, which can be useful in accurately estimating a project’s size and schedule. Our research shows that when managers rely solely on development methodologies, instead of understanding and optimizing their available resources, projects end up over-staffed, over-budget, and with significantly more defects. QSM's 15-year study of agile performance has consistently shown that good planning, not development methodology, is key to successful software development - and historical data plays an integral role in effective planning and estimation. That's why we created, and continue to update, our Software Project Database - to provide our customers with the highest-quality historical information and trendlines to make well-informed decisions in the software development process, regardless of which methodology they are using.

Second, they tend to confuse estimates with commitments, target values or goals. A target value is what someone would like to have happen. Conversely, an estimate is based on a quantitative analysis of what is likely to happen. These two things should never be confused. Instead, targets and estimates should be evaluated independently to see if they align. That will help teams maintain more realistic levels of optimism. Estimates should always be used as input before making cost and schedule commitments.

They fail to re-estimate when things change.

As mentioned, inevitably, something will happen to change the course of the development effort. For instance, a team may find the need to adjust their project’s scope and requirements in the midst of the development cycle. These changes will likely impact the schedule and could also impact other factors, such as number of team members needed to work on the project, the overall cost, and more. In such cases, managers must be prepared to re-estimate to get a more accurate measure of their project’s status.

Unfortunately, many people do not do this. They continue on with their original estimates. When they miss these estimates – their projects fall behind schedule, or run over budget, etc. – they blame the software estimation process. However, it’s not the estimation process that has failed; it’s simply the fact that the team has remained steadfastly beholden to their original estimate.

Project managers must remember that estimates are not set in stone. They can and should be adjusted accordingly as changes take place during the development process. This is something that agile practitioners learned a long time ago and is the reason why they build the potential for changes into their development methodologies.

They produce point estimates instead of ranges.

When it comes to estimation, managers have a tendency to apply point estimates, or single values, to their projects. “Our project will be delivered on May 1, 2018,” they definitively pronounce, leaving no wiggle room whatsoever.

But estimates are inherently uncertain. They are driven by what we do not know – about size, scope, and productivity, for example. When we estimate, we are really attempting to develop a timeline to strive for, rather than one to hit without question. Teams that tout a particular date are more likely to subject themselves to potential failure.

Instead of producing point estimates, project managers should develop estimated ranges. For example, “Our project is likely to be delivered no sooner than April 15 but no later than May 1,” or “Our project will not cost less than $1 million but no more than $3 million.” This provides the team some room to breathe without holding them to commitments they may not be able to keep, while still giving management a good idea of what to expect.

Consider hurricane prediction models - meteorologists never use a thin line to predict the hurricane’s path. Instead, they present it as a cone of uncertainty that gets wider over time - and although the model is not exact, it is good enough to determine what population centers should consider evacuating. This idea is exactly the same in modeling and predicting software project outcomes. Just as meteorologists use the cone of uncertainty to account for possible hurricane course changes, project managers can use estimated ranges to generate reasonable risk buffers, while still being able to give management realistic expectations.

The best practices that can help software estimation thrive

Now that we have examined the mistakes that are being made, let’s take a closer look at how software developers can revive their software estimation processes to deliver exceptional value to their organizations.

Take a “top-down,” macro-level approach.

Traditional project management involves allocating people and the number of hours they are estimated to work on specific tasks at the very beginning of a project. This usually happens before teams have figured out the specific requirements of each person’s task or prior to estimating the total duration and effort of the entire system. This “bottom-up” approach to software project estimation often results in inaccurate guesswork and re-planning, costing organizations additional time and money.

Implementing a top-down, macro-level approach to estimation can be much more effective. Top-down estimation takes into account the entire project from the very beginning. It employs historical and empirically based models to accurately estimate size, cost, effort, and other factors. Managers can run “what if” scenarios to account for various challenges that may occur throughout the course of development (i.e., “What if we run over budget?” or “What if we have to do some re-work?”). They can then make adjustments as necessary before work commences, potentially saving significant time and money in the long run.

Focus on five core metrics.

Project managers do not have to capture a lot of different metrics to ensure the success of their estimation processes. Simply focusing on five core metrics – duration, effort, size, productivity, and reliability – can deliver very accurate and credible estimates.

My father, Larry Putnam, Sr., initially posited this theory in his book Five Core Metrics: The Intelligence Behind Successful Software Management. In the book, my father argued that simplifying the estimation process and tuning into the areas that truly matter can help managers better assess risk factors, anticipate and respond to changes, and successfully re-plan their projects as necessary. It addresses the common misperception that software project estimation is too hard and complicated. As my father showed, that certainly does not have to be the case.

Size & Scope measures.

Out of those five core metrics, project sizing – which takes into account the amount of functionality in a given software release - tends to create the most headaches. Teams often find it extraordinarily difficult to quantify the size of their projects – even more so if those projects involve large-scale software development efforts. Teams will often need to use different sizing methods depending on where the project is in its lifecycle and the information they have at hand, making sizing a complex task.

And yet, sizing is also extremely important. Without it, stakeholders will not be able to determine how long a software project will take to complete, how much it will cost, how many people they will need to complete it and how productive they will be, or how many defects they can expect to find during testing. Ignoring size leads to bad estimates.

While counting exact units of work is great, it’s not always possible. In these cases, teams would be well served to ballpark their size estimates. These can be as basic as “big,” “medium,” “small,” or some variation of those terms. They can also employ high level measures, such as “business requirements” or “number of user stories or epics” to estimate size.

Estimation tools can be used to complement these initial frames of reference and account for any uncertainties that may exist. After running some initial estimates, managers can get a good and reliable idea of the size of their projects. That estimate can then be checked against industry trends to ascertain the projects’ overall costs and schedules.

Estimation is not dead. It remains essential.

Software estimation does not have to be difficult, onerous, or ineffective. On the contrary; done correctly, estimation can be absolutely essential to the timely development and delivery of projects. It can help teams gain a better understanding of how much time, effort, and money it will take to deliver solutions that are of value to their organizations. It can also provide project managers with the information their stakeholders demand to show how their investments are being managed.

In short, software estimation is far from dead. It is, in fact, very much alive. With a little bit of attention, organizations can use it to its fullest extent to deliver valuable insights for projects of all methodologies and sizes.

About the Author

Lawrence H. Putnam Jr. is co-CEO of QSM, a leader in software process improvement and systems development estimation. Larry's primary area of responsibility is to oversee the strategic direction of QSM’s products business. This includes meeting revenue goals, strategic product direction, customer care and research. Larry has over 25 years of experience in software measurement, estimating and project control. He joined QSM in 1987 and has worked in every aspect of the business, including business development, customer support, professional services and now executive management.