Lecture 7 - Software Estimation I

Question 1

In Scope management, what does Scoping mean?

Answer 1

Define boundaries of the project

Question 2

What are the elements that make up Scope Management? (3)

Answer 2

• Time
• Resources
• Functionality

Question 3

What is Brook’s Law?

Answer 3

Adding a human resource to a late software project makes it later

Question 4

5 persons working full time for six weeks in a project, 35 hours of work per week. What is the Work Effort?

Answer 4

Work Effort = (5 persons x 6 weeks x 35 hours/week) = 1050 person-hours

Question 5

What is “productive effort”?

Answer 5

A person’s effort on project related tasks. Excludes lunch, coffee, team meetings, etc.

Question 6

TF: Effort and Cost estimation all you to estimate how many features can be delivered within a specific development iteration

Answer 6

True

Question 7

TF: Estimating time needed for defect correction work is a benefit of Effort and Cost Estimation

Answer 7

True

Question 8

What is a solution for a project that is over-scoped?

Answer 8

Reduce scope by defining a feature subset (release/project baseline) such that it is no longer over-scoped

Question 9

How do you define requirements baseline-steps? (3)

Answer 9

• Establish business value
• Assess effort (person-hours) required to develop feature
• Assess risk involved in developing feature

Question 10

TF: Assessing scope effort early in the project is easy

Answer 10

False. Difficult to estimate since requirements not detailed and design unclear

Question 11

TF: A factor to consider when assessing scope risk is new unproven technologies being used

Answer 11

True

Question 12

What are the Priority categories in Requirements Priority? (3)

Answer 12

• Critical
• Important
• Useful

Question 13

What does it mean if a requirement is said to be Critical in Requirement Priority?

Answer 13

Means requirement must be incorporated in next product release

Question 14

What does it mean if a requirement is said to be Important in Requirement Priority?

Answer 14

Means requirement is necessary but can be deferred to later release if necessary

Question 15

What does it mean if a requirement is said to be Useful in Requirement Priority?

Answer 15

Means it would be nice to have, but might be dropped if there is insufficient time or resources

Question 16

What are the Prioritization techniques? (3)

Answer 16

• Ranking
• Grouping
• Hundred-dollar method

Question 17

How does the Ranking prioritization technique work?

Answer 17

Rank requirements using a scale

Question 18

How does the Grouping prioritization technique work?

Answer 18

Group requirements based on priority groups (critical, important, useful)

Question 19

How does the Hundred-dollar method prioritization technique work?

Answer 19

Stakeholders get a conceptual $100 to distribute among requirements

Question 20

What is the first principle of Estimation Fundamental Principles?

Answer 20

An estimate is a projection from past to future, accounting for differences between past and future

Question 21

How is the past captured in the first principle of Estimation Fundamentals?

Answer 21

Historical data

Question 22

How is the future captured in the first principle of Estimation Fundamentals?

Answer 22

Requirements for the software to be developed

Question 23

In the second principle of Estimation Fundamental Principles, all estimates are based on…

Answer 23

• Set of assumptions that must be realized
• Set of constraints that must be satisfied

Question 24

What is an assumption?

Answer 24

Statement taken to be true without verifying
(ex: might be assumed that productivity factor for project will be 500 lines of code per month)

Question 25

What is a constraint?

Answer 25

An externally imposed condition that must be observed
(ex: project might be constrained to 5 people for 6 months)

Question 26

Say you are given the constraint that 5 people will work for 6 months, and that similar past projects had an average of 50 delivered source lines of code (DSLOC) per person month, what product can we build?

Answer 26

5 people x 6 month = 30 person-months
50 x 30 = 1500 DSLOC per person-month

Question 27

What is the third principle of Estimation Fundamental Principles?

Answer 27

Projects must be re-estimated periodically as understanding grows and aperiodically as project parameters change

Question 28

How often should re-estimation and re-planning occur for a project less than 12 months long?

Answer 28

Monthly basis

Question 29

How often should re-estimation and re-planning occur for a project more than 12 months long?

Answer 29

Quarterly basis