Estimación de software (en inglés y fuente externa)

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Software Estimation
Demystified

E S T I M AT I N G T H E D U R AT I O N O F W E B BA S E D S O F T WA R E D E V E LO P M E N T

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Accurate Estimates

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The secret to good estimates is the clear understanding of the tasks.

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About the Author

Jack Bicer is the CEO & CTO of
Septium Corp., a hybrid offshore
custom websoftware
development company,
combining offshore cost savings
with US management expertise.
A 29 year software industry
veteran, Jack is an industry
expert in SaaS/web software,
new product development, offshoring, technology strategy and
EMRs. Known as the “Father of
Uninstall”, he invented the
uninstall concept and wrote the
first uninstaller. Jack serves on
the Board of TechBizConnection
and Timeler Inc. as well as the
Advisory Boards for the Digital
Media Center and the Tech Coast
Venture Network.
eMail: jbicer@septium.com.

In order to estimate the
duration of any software
project, you need to have good
understanding on what needs to
be done. What is also important
is that other stakeholders and
decision makers need to agree
with your
vision and
milestones.Once everyone
involved is in
agreement,
you can take
the following
initial steps to
estimate how
much time will
be needed to complete the
project.
1. Do a feasibility study: Having
a good overall understanding of
the project can help you identify
and prepare for the
“unknowns.” Research these
unknowns and identify ways to
navigate through them so that
your estimates can be moreaccurate.

2. Perform a design intake so
that you and all other
stakeholders understand the
details and requirements of the
project. Make sure everyone
involved is on the same page
and that there is consensus.

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3. Do a detailed
design of the
software on paper,
including the UI,
business rules,
roles, constraints,
dependencies and
system behavior.
Describe each
web page indetail.

Secret to good estimation, is the clear
understanding of the tasks ahead.
The detailed software design
specification is what gives us
that information. Without it, we
are almost blind, trying to walk
in an unfamiliar territory with a
walking stick. Just because we
know how to walk doesn’t mean
we can find our way on the
streets unknown.

71% of the projects run into troubleAs we eliminate the unknowns using good processes, the task of estimation becomes easier and more
accurate. Though still an art, estimation is easy if the potential challenges or issues are well understood
and a plan is created to deal with them. After having the entire software design on paper and a clear
understanding of the tasks ahead, create a list of all the web pages that will be built.Remember to also
add any software infrastructure work that needs to precede web-page development to this list, including
database design or UI template creation, and Alpha and Beta testing at the end of the implementation
stage.

A SIMPLE ESTIMATION PROCESS
The next step is to estimate the proper amount of time necessary to accomplish each task. Although still
an art, here are someguidelines from the trenches that actually work well in real life.
Categorize each page as static, easy, medium and hard. Differentiating which pages are easy or hard
requires experience, but this skill can be easily acquired after a few projects. Here are some helpful hints:
Static: Simple HTML pages. These do not contain any code that interfaces with a database or complex
JavaScript or Ajax controls.Easy: Web pages with simple database access, such as a user login page. These pages contain few fields,
simple database lookups and minor error handling effort.
Medium: These pages have more complex database interactions with more data content and error
handling for a programmer to process. Reports or data entry pages typically fall under this category.
Unless you use complex Ajax controls,...