The A-Z of Project Management Survival

We all have to do it but no one knows how. There is no magic formula, there is no way to find the answer all you can ever do is guess and suffer the consequences. There are only a few things you need to find out.

• What is the latest time the customer will allow you deliver?
• What is the minimum amount you can get away with?
• How much budget does the customer have?

Try and work these things out and build your estimate around them. Sure, build some sort of model to justify your numbers, maybe use something scientific looking like standard deviation and use interesting terminology like 'risk budget' and 'contingency'.

Ok, so you still want to try? Right then, on your own head be it, but here is some additional help in case you are still feeling misguided.

What does your gut feel tell you? Come on, your experience must tell you something? Is it 100 man days, 500, 1000? Think of a number, you'll probably be more right than you think. Then to confirm this, use the obvious but often forgotten 'bums on seats' estimate. Count the number of people you have available to do the work, multiply that by your gut feel duration and that gives you a guide to your total number of man days.

Labels: E, Estimation

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 3, 2007 at 2:20 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.