Common Problem Effort Estimation

Question 1

Subjective nature of estimating

Answer 1

Some research shows that people tends to underestimate the difficulty of small tasks and over estimate that of large ones

Question 2

Changing technology

Answer 2

Where technologies changes rapidly it is difficult to use experience of previous projects on new ones.

Question 3

Lack of homogeneity of project experience

Answer 3

Even where technologies have not changed, knowlege about typical task durations may not be easily, transferred from one project to another because of other differences between project.

Question 4

Political implications

Answer 4

Different groups within an organization can have different objectives. To avoid this ‘political’ influences one suggestion is estimates should be produced by specialist estimating groups, independent of the users and the project teams.