Comments for Project Planning & Estimation

Comment on Development Teams Using Note Cards: 20th Century Here Today by Lee

Lee — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:50:18 +0000

Actually, the title should have been “Sooo 19th Century” Note cards are a triumph of fad over function.

Comment on Mapping Agile Principals to SEER for Software (SEER-SEM) by Lee

Lee — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:46:33 +0000

An interesting aspect of Agile is that the lifecycle process can vary a bit. Watch for the MSP Integration of SEER for Software to come with an agile-style lifecycle in its next release.

Comment on How Galorath Quantified the Salesforce.com Platform With SEER For Software (SEER-SEM) by Lee

Lee — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:09:48 +0000

Years ago there were front page articles on the coming revolution in reusable components. Component repository companies came and went. This was in about 2001. Salesforce’s Appexchange finally managed to succeed at becoming such a repository and has apparently realized the foreseen benefits. Component libraries are emerging, such as within .NET and those produced component vendors, but seemingly none are operating at such a high level as the Salesforce operation. The Service-Oriented Architecture paradigm may yield yet other high level repositories with similarly large gains. We’ll see.

Comment on How Galorath Quantified the Salesforce.com Platform With SEER For Software (SEER-SEM) by Galorath: 80% Reduction In Development Effort with Force.com | Model Metrics

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:22:30 +0000

[...] an explanatory article, How Galorath Quantified the Salesforce.com Platform, there are a couple of interesting nuggets hidden all the way at the [...]

Comment on Software Project Failure Costs Billions.. Better Estimation & Planning Can Help by why software projects fails - looking inside « Osama Dwairi Blog

why software projects fails - looking inside « Osama Dwairi Blog — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:25:31 +0000

[...] http://www.galorath.com/wp/software-project-failure-costs-billions-better-estimation-planning-can-he... [...]

Comment on Audits Improve Processes by Bryn

Bryn — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:58:50 +0000

Audits of our estimates evoke similar emotional responses. Not enough time to do as thorough a job as we would like leaves us knowing “improvements” or criticisms are likely. Peer reviews, as for sw development, can help, but we should just accept criticisms as part of the estimate maturity process.

Comment on Bad Assumptions Invalidate Business Value and ROI Analysis by Bryn

Bryn — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:52:39 +0000

I see mgt knowingly demanding “bad” assumptions in estimates in order to fit w/in fiscal cost constraints. I’m using ranges of estimates (all at 80% CL) w/ differing input assumptions in order to help mgt to at least grasp the likely impact of accepting highly optimistic assumptions, if not budget more reaslistically.

Comment on Bad Assumptions Invalidate Business Value and ROI Analysis by Lee Fischman

Lee Fischman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:16:56 +0000

This a hearty endorsement of this post, from the perspective of sound management practices. At the most recent PMI Congress was a presentation on “Why Good Managers Make Bad Decisions”. A significant reason is indeed that managers often make decisions that are not driven by quantitative analysis of expected reward versus benefit. There are illusions of time, cost and other constraints which make gut decisions fallible. Decent estimates are a way of exercising numbers and gaining perspective on potentially expensive decisions.

Comment on Step One: Establish Estimate Scope and Purpose by Lee

Lee — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:21:49 +0000

It is super important, when establishing the scope of an estimate, to start with a soup-to-nuts list of all the activities in a project. A project starts with a concept and ends with user support. In between are a variable number of phases including requirements, design, code, fixing the draft of the code, more detailed testing where a set of cases start to be kept, documenting the stuff, etc. You have to either estimate everything, or identify who else is providing the money for certain activities, so you don’t have to estimate the costs of them

Comment on Who Needs Standardized Spelling by Shell

Shell — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:43:20 +0000

Dan, as a fellow blogger I can sympathize with the spelling and grammar issues that can arise from less formal blogging. I also agree that most blogs are written out of inspiration and moments of genius cannot be planned. Blog on!