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Seminars .:. Course List by Knowledge Area .:. Software Estimation in Depth
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Software Estimation in Depth
upcoming public offerings
1/12/2009
- 1/13/2009
  Steve McConnell      ($1,395) 		register now
4/13/2009
- 4/14/2009
  Steve McConnell      ($1,395) 		register now
9/14/2009
- 9/15/2009
  Steve McConnell      ($1,395) 		register now
 
email us about private offerings of this seminar
course overview
This course provides many useful rules of thumb and procedures for creating software estimates ("the art of estimation") and briefly introduces mathematical approaches to creating software project estimates ("the science of estimation"). This course features extensive lab work to give you hands-on experience creating many different kinds of software estimates--for large, medium, and small projects as well as calibrating estimates to be accurate for your specific development environment. You will learn techniques for making sure estimation is treated as an analytical rather than a political process, and you will explore how to negotiate effectively with other project stakeholders (such as marketing, management and your clients) so that everyone wins. This seminar is based on the best selling book Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art, by Steve McConnell. Two days.
who should attend
This seminar will be useful to project managers, product managers, program managers, technical leads, software engineers, developers and anyone else who wants to learn to effectively estimate software costs and schedules.
the seminar includes the following topics

Estimation Background

  • Estimation "art" vs. estimation "science"
  • Estimates, targets, and commitments
  • Kinds of estimates: macro vs. micro, top-down vs. bottom up, algorithmic vs. heuristic 
  • State of the art and limits on estimation accuracy
  • Surprise: Estimation's real role on software projects

Estimation Process

  • Basic steps in creating a software estimate
  • Estimating agile projects vs. estimating plan-driven projects
  • Best estimation approaches by project phase 
  • Estimate refinement
  • Standardized estimating procedures for agile and plan-driven projects

Estimation Error

  • The good, the bad, and the ugly: evaluating estimates
  • Errors in the estimation process
  • Sources of project uncertainty
  • Software's Cone of Uncertainty

Popular Estimation Methods

  • Off-the-cuff estimation
  • Using expert judgment successfully
  • Wide-band Delphi
  • Cocomo II

Better Estimation Methods

  • Estimation by analogy
  • Decomposition
  • Proxy-based estimation
  • Estimation by function points
  • The PERT formula
  • Putnam's Method
    

Special Issues in Scope Estimation

  • Counting, Computing, and Judgment
  • Fuzzy Logic
  • T-Shirt Sizing
  • Software's diseconomy of scale

Special Issues in Effort Estimation

  • Productivity variations across types of software
  • Calibration
  • Industry data
  • Historical company data
  • Project data
  • Estimating individuals' work

Special Issues in Schedule Estimation

  • The schedule equation
  • Effect of schedule compression and expansion
  • The "impossible zone"

Automated Estimation Support

  • Product demos
  • Tool capabilities
  • Interplay of the art and science of software estimation 

Human Roles in Estimation

  • Estimate presentation techniques
  • How to explain and defend an estimate
  • Estimation and negotiation
pmi information
Scope Management, Time Management and Cost Management

12 PDU

PMI PDU Reporting Instructions
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