Comments on: 8 Reasons why the Estimates are too low

By: PM Hut

PM Hut — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:10:24 +0000

An excellent post, I just saw it while I was checking Michael Bolton’s above post on Black Swan risks.

I think your post is helpful to many project managers and it lists, and explains, all the reasons why estimates are low (in software projects), and that’s why I would like to republish it on PM Hut, where many project managers will be able to benefit from it. Please either email me or contact me through the “Contact us” form on the PM Hut website in case you’re OK with this.

By: Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 19:33:01 +0000

I like your list. I would like to suggest an addition: the Black Swan. You can read about that here: http://www.developsense.com/blog/2010/10/project-estimation-and-black-swans/

Cheers,

—Michael B.

By: cauza estimărilor greşite în software developent | Programare PHP

cauza estimărilor greşite în software developent | Programare PHP — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:32:40 +0000

[...] cauza estimărilor greşite în software developent http://blog.schauderhaft.de/2010/01/17/reason-estimate-low/ [...]

By: Stefano Ricciardi

Stefano Ricciardi — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:17:46 +0000

Very good post, with a lot of insights on why estimating can become a difficult task.

I would add that the lessfamiliar you are to the technology/domain, the more your estimate will be a guess work. In such a situation, some prototyping excerise before estimating is usually beneficial.

By: Victor Nakoryakov

Victor Nakoryakov — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:54:20 +0000

Excellent post, Jens! Good points!

One more thing I’ve noticed is the less granular tasks that are estimated, the less accurate the final estimation is. This is true even if there are no “dark”, ambiguous, obscure tasks. This is related to your points “Guessing in the dark” and “Forgetting stuff”, but I think a bit different.

The solution is to forbid to have tasks that are estimated longer than N hours. Everything that takes longer must be divided in smaller chunks and be re-estimated. Works quite good for N ~ 16-24 hours.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:47:17 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by benontherun: RT @jensschauder: New blog post: 8 Reasons why the Estimates are to low? http://blog.schauderhaft.de/2010/01/17/reason-estimate-low/...

By: Jens Schauder

Jens Schauder — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:22:26 +0000

Damn … I never get that right. Thanks for the hint.

By: Jim Danby

Jim Danby — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:03:48 +0000

You underestimated the number of o’s in “too”.

By: DingensBummens | Das Ding was Bummst » My Google Reader Shared Items – Monday, January 18, 2010

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:04:15 +0000

[...] 8 Reasons why the Estimates are to low [...]

By: Elena

Elena — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:58:01 +0000

It was interesting to read this article and I hope to read a new article about this subject in your site in the near time.