Personal Capabilities & Other Non-Technical Parameters Can Make a Big Difference in Estimating
Thanks to Galorath’s Sam Sanchez for these insights on non-technical parameters:
When I first started with Galorath, I used to wonder about the usefulness of having parameter inputs like Developer Experience or Development Tools and Practices” within our electronic models. Like many engineers, I didn’t like these types of qualitative inputs, preferring to use more concrete entries like frequency of board, number of IC’s/IO and others. However, as the years have progressed, I’m amazed at how critical these qualitative parameters continue to be. Like I heard mentioned in one of my SEER H classes, There are A teams, B teams and believe it or not even D teams. More importantly, the impact of these variations can cause dramatic differences in a projects level of effort.
Common reasons for poor team efficiency could be longevity of the individuals in the given technologies, recent mergers, bad chemistry, poor communication practices and others. It’s important to note that we look at this parameter as an overall assessment of the team.
To help reduce confusion with this input, SEER-IC looks at the following criteria: Accomplishment Metric, Configuration Control, Communications, Adv Skills and Tool Experience. Specific measures within these major sections help users to come up with a reasonable range input. Also, this is definitely one parameter that should have a different entry for least likely or most. In other words, there is always some level of risk here.
In SEER-H, swings in Development Experience individually can swing costs by as much as 30%. Development Tools and Practices by as much as 50%. We tend to look at common variations. In reality, at times, the variations may be orders of magnitude.
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