Ask HN:About Software Estimation

5 points by kloc 15 years ago | 1 comment

Is software estimation relevant in this community? Assuming most of the folks here are working in startup environment, I am curious if software estimation is done and if yes how. I work in a big organization where estimation is done by a gut feeling of someone senior and often outdated with latest technology trends. This result in over estimation of as much as 5 times (sometimes 10 times) the actual effort required. I wonder if software estimation is an art or science. Please point out to some good resources to learn good software estimation.

togasystems 15 years ago |

I recently had this discussion with an accountant. We generally have to estimate our times in hours for clients. This is very hard. One can look at all the requirements and have an idea on how long it will take, but one can never be exactly sure.

I made analogy to the accountant by asking him how long it would take him to add two large unknown numbers in his head, down to the millisecond. This is similar to what software developers are asked when they have to estimate the numbers of hours for a project.

BTW - The senior guy is probably over estimating to cover his reputation of delivering early or on time.