The Cost Vs Benefit of Additional Bandwidth
You can never be too thin, too rich, or have too much bandwidth. As I think back over the years, from my original 30 character per second modem, to the big jump to 1200, then 2400 (240 Characters per Second) BAUD modems (SEER for Software was originally developed by a disbursed team using 2400 BAUD modems) to megabits of bandwidth.
We learned some years ago that speed was not the only consideration, but reliability was key as well. Once we had a DSL line that went down. 3 day turnaround to fix. Then a T1 vendor (high reliability 1.5megabits) who got in a fight with the phone company and got our line along with all their customers shut down.
We are making the big jump, once again in El Segundo, going from a t1 to a bonded t1 (3megabits)
And how will that impact productivity? Experience tells us there will be a few miserable days when the change brings the company to its knees (we have people scattered about the free world.) Our staff offered to run SEER-IT and estimate the project but I really didn’t want to know… we are going to go ahead and we know it will be ugly. Then, after the misery we expect to be servicing our remote employees twice as fast as we do now. Of course none of them will be happy since the average bandwidth in homes is still higher than 3megabits.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Estimating Frequently Asked Questions
This is the beginning of a growing list of FAQs.
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What is the difference between and estimate and accounting?
An estimate has uncertainty and is qualified by a set of assumptions. A well formed estimate is a range.
Feel free to submit your questions (or answers)
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Function Point Simple Introduction
I keep meaning to post Galorath’s Ton Dekker concise introduction to Function Points. Ton is an expert in IFPUG Function points as well as COSMIC Function Points and a host of other functional sizing measures. I always appreciate Ton’s simple and clear approaches.
Learn how Galorath can help with function point estimation.
| http://www.galorath.com/wp/function-point-simple-introduction.php |
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Software Measurement and Total Ownership Costs… Dan’s Presentation at the NYC SPIN
I had the opportunity to present at the New York City SPIN http://www.nycspin.org last week. The topics included software measurement, software cost, schedule, risk estimation and total ownership costs. It pointed out that decisions made during development can dramatically impact maintenance costs and that maintenance is often 75% of total ownership costs. NYC SPIN June 2008 Development Is Only Job 1
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Optimizing IT or Engineering In Tough Economic Times Through SEER
When economic times get tough one of the most difficult things for management is to determine the impact of slowed or killed projects, the impacts on maintenance, and further methods of achieving time to market with fewer resources.
Sterling Commerce in a presentation called “What’s Real Answers For Tough Time” pointed out some of the challenges and issues in the new consolidated banking, finance and other industries. The legacy is difficult including:
- Fragmented, Incompatible, Fragmented, Siloed Systems For the Pre-Acquisition Assets, and cost prohibitive to replace systems
- Difficult To Process new customers due to disparate systems
- Incompatible / Incomplete Business Processes so no one knows the status of customers
The article also pointed out that some organizations will just not spend any money while others will make the decisions and spend the money to have them emerge stronger. That article’s subtitle was “A Crystal Ball Won’t Provide the Answers Your Need” While I agree with the challenges listed by Sterling, I believe that a sort of Crystal Ball… SEER can identify the effects of decisions on business.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Estimating In Times of Deflation
The world is certainly in economic turmoil. As was pointed out to me last week by a CEO of a public company “When estimating future costs (then year dollars) it is important to understand the costs or cost savings of deflation” SEER allows for inflation or deflation and will issue deflation tables as (if) the forecasts come available. Consumer information is already available showing significant drops. Almost certainly, for 2009 inflation will not be the issue.
The Wall Street Journal announced today that:
“The Federal Reserve slashed its target interest rate to a range just above zero and promised to march ahead with unconventional measures to combat a recession that has deepened in the past few weeks.
The Fed said it would keep its target interest rate — an overnight bank lending rate called the federal funds rate –? between zero and a quarter percentage point after having moved it to 1% in October. The cut was more than many economists expected and marked the latest signal by the Fed and its chairman, Ben Bernanke, that the central bank was prepared to take aggressive steps to revive the economy and financial markets.
“The Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote the resumption of sustainable economic growth and to preserve price stability,” the Fed said in a statement. It added that it expected interest rates to remain low “for some time” and that it was studying other measures, such as purchasing U.S. Treasury securities, to lift the economy.
In the latest example of the deepening recession, the Commerce Department reported that new home building dropped 19% in November alone, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625,000 units, a record monthly low.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122945283457211111.html?mod=djemTAR
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
How Galorath Made Use Case Points Viable For Accurate Estimating
Use case points provide a measure of size based on Use Cases, a natural artifact of the software process. The original concept was developed by Objectory AB (now part of IBM Rational Software.) There have been many detractors of use case points including Rational Software itself and USC. The Galorath team approached Use Case estimating with a number of approaches. Lee Fischman, who led the project came up with the concept of Normalized Use Cases (NUCs), a new metric based on Use Case Points He also had Galorath’s Dr. Tarbet set off to create better results from Use Case Points. Use Case Points are based on:
- Based on the number of actors and transaction for each case.
- Categorization into simple, medium and difficult.
- Linear combination of weighted counts
When Dr. Tarbet finished his analysis he obtained an Adjusted Correlation Coefficient (R2 ) = 0.984802, showing an exceptional value to the enhanced Use Case Point method.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Counting XML Source Lines of Code
A customer recently asked how to count XML for their software sizing activity. Turned out the question was more detailed than just the syntax. They really wanted to know IF they should count XML and, if using lines of code, if they should adjust the XML lines. They pointed out that many of their projects include up to 25% XML lines.
This has been updated based on the latest research January 2009: The bottom line is that XML, while it has no procedural statements (it is a data declaration language), can require significant effort in software development and should be counted. While your own data is most precise there are approximation methods listed below. To model XML in SEER-SEM, you need to look at how it is developed or generated.
1. If sizing with SLOC using XML based size estimates
a. If XML is being generated, you can use the Code Generator kbase and put XML lines into pre-existing size
b. If XML is developed by hand, you can put the XML lines into New
2. If sizing with SLOC using 3GL new size equivalents
a. If XML is being generated, multiply 3GL size by 0.2 (or 0.15, 0.20, 0.25 for a range) (see spreadsheet for a workup)
b. If XML is developed by hand, multiply 3GL size by 0.57
3. If sizing with Functions
a. If XML is generated, you can simply put the functions in as new as use the Code Generator Function Implementation Mechanism
b. If XML is developed by hand, you can put function in as new and select the XML Function Implementation Mechanism
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Counting XML
XML is interesting to count since an XML document generally doesn’t actually do anything… that is, XML does not include procedural code. XML is pure declarations wrapped in tags. There is an if statement that can change the value of an element, not program logic. XML Separates Data from HTML. With XML, data can be stored in separate XML files so you can concentrate on using HTML for layout and display and ensure changes in the underlying data will not require any changes to the HTML.
The following are the generic logical source line counting rules:
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Costs & Benefits of Software Quality
Rick Spiewak from The MITRE Corporation and Karen McRitchie, Galorath VP of development published a paper in the Crosstalk journal showing how increasing quality using basic quality principals during software development can reduce costs while also reducing defects. The abstract follows:
“Software can be considered a product whose production is fundamentally similar to other products. Improving the quality of software can be approached using the same basic principles espoused by quality pioneers such as W. Edwards Deming, Philip B. Crosby and Harold F. Dodge. These principles can form a practical framework for ensuring that appropriate requirements are set for software development projects. By connecting established software engineering practices to the objective of defect prevention, we can apply the principles of quality management to software development. Using modeling techniques, it is possible to predict the potential cost savings and defect reduction expected”.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Process Compliance Saves 15% of Development or Maintenance Costs
I had the opportunity to hear a brief on Computer Aid’s Tracer software and methodology. Tracer, when applied as recommended by CAI details all the process steps needed to accomplish every task and allows software personnel to entry time directly into the system as well as check off tasks completed. Tracer then show them what it takes to be compliant with processes. I believe if people started using something like Tracer they could actually get their CMMI type processes working and could achieve the 15 or more percent savings that Computer Aid themselves achieve. Amazing…. Simply by doing processes rather than giving them lip service: big savings and more successful projects. Applying Tracer to software projects can mitigate the issues of CMMI compliance. Of course CAI points out this doesn’t have to be CMMI.
Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.
Project Prediction Infographic
