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Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Developer Best Practices) 1st Edition

by Steve McConnell (Author)

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Part of: Developer Best Practices (23 books)

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Often referred to as the “black art” because of its complexity and uncertainty, software estimation is not as difficult or puzzling as people think. In fact, generating accurate estimates is straightforward―once you understand the art of creating them. In his highly anticipated book, acclaimed author Steve McConnell unravels the mystery to successful software estimation―distilling academic information and real-world experience into a practical guide for working software professionals. Instead of arcane treatises and rigid modeling techniques, this guide highlights a proven set of procedures, understandable formulas, and heuristics that individuals and development teams can apply to their projects to help achieve estimation proficiency.
Discover how to:

Estimate schedule and cost―or estimate the functionality that can be delivered within a given time frame
Avoid common software estimation mistakes
Learn estimation techniques for you, your team, and your organization * Estimate specific project activities―including development, management, and defect correction
Apply estimation approaches to any type of project―small or large, agile or traditional
Navigate the shark-infested political waters that surround project estimates

When many corporate software projects are failing, McConnell shows you what works for successful software estimation.

ISBN-10

0735605351
ISBN-13

978-0735605350
Edition

1st
Publisher

Microsoft Press
Publication date

March 1, 2006
Part of series

Developer Best Practices
Language

English
Dimensions

7.24 x 0.76 x 8.86 inches
Print length

308 pages
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Unlike other books that focus exclusively on the science of estimationincluding rigid modeling techniques and continuous feedback loops that are not cost effective to most organizationsthis unique guide offers practical, tested, hands-on advice for estimating software development costs in the real world. It is written by the award-winning author of Code Complete.

Key Book Benefits:

Delivers practical insights about a critical subject too-often obscured by academic jargon Two-color graphics present mathematical information in an easy-to-understand format Provides specific practices that can be used immediately by any software development organization Features numerous, to-the-point tips about the estimation process, as well as individual steps to creating successful estimates

About the Author

Steve McConnell is recognized as one of the premier authors and voices in the development community. He is Chief Software Engineer of Construx Software and was the lead developer of Construx Estimate and of SPC Estimate Professional, winner of Software Development magazine's Productivity Award. He is the author of several books, including Code Complete and Rapid Development, both honored with Software Development magazine's Jolt Award.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Microsoft Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 308 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0735605351
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0735605350
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.24 x 0.76 x 8.86 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #428,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38 in Client-Server Networking Systems
- #516 in Software Development (Books)
- #1,294 in Computer Software (Books)

Customer Reviews:
230

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Steve McConnell

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Steve McConnell is an award-winning, best selling CEO and author. His newest book is "More Effective Agile: A Roadmap for Software Leaders." His first book, "Code Complete", has been recognized as the best-selling, best-reviewed software development book of all time. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than one million copies worldwide.

Steve is passionate about increasing software organizational performance by improving the skills of individuals and teams. Steve is founder and CEO at Construx Software, which provides training, consulting, coaching and free resources focused on more effective software development practices. Check it out at construx.com.

Steve's newest book, More Effective Agile, was published in August 2019. Check out resources related to Steve's new book at moreeffectiveagile.com.

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Allen Vander Meulen

Another "must read" from Steve McConnell

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2007

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I've been a fan of Mr. McConnell's work since I first read Rapid Development and the original version of Code Complete, Second Edition back in the mid 1990's - both of which are books I highly recommend for anyone leading software development projects or teams.

The subject matter here is much more focused than in most of his other work - dealing with a specific aspect of project management, rather than management of projects and the software development process as a whole; but, as with his other works, Mr. McConnell's Software Estimation is clearly written, well researched, and takes a very practical "hands-on" approach to the topic at hand. You will find it readable and packed with useful information. His conclusions and recommendations are well supported with references to the source material from which he derives them, and he does a good job of giving us a well balanced view of the relative merits, cautions and how best to utilize each of his recommendations.

The book is a fairly easy and straightforward read: my first pass through it took just a few hours, and I experienced one or more of those "aha!" moments of revelation with almost every chapter.

In Part I of the book, he presents overview of what Software Estimation is - and isn't; its value; what factors influence estimates; and also challenges the preconceptions all of us have with regards to software estimation. He often delves into some statistical examples to illustrate or prove his point, but these are easy to follow, and should not strain your brain too severely!

In Part II, Mr. McConnell describes a reasonably large number of software estimation techniques - describing how they work; the value, merits and challenges of each; and how to chose when (and why) to employ each one.

Part III was of the most value to me - focusing on "Specific Estimation Challenges" in the areas of estimating project size, effort, schedule, activity breakdowns, cost estimates, and metrics related to defects.

The final two chapters - 22 and 23 - of this book will be of immense value to you; as they focus on how to present estimates to others in ways that will be of most value in your attempt to provide a clear and balanced view of your project's costs and benefits to the organization. They also provide valuable tips on how to prepare and present yourself when facing the challenges that most of us (who spend more time with computers than people) encounter when trying to communicate with executives and nontechnical individuals.

In my opinion, this book will serve not only as an excellent introduction and guide to the discipline of Software Estimation, but is also an excellent reference work that you should keep close at hand: you will be digging into it regularly whenever you are managing a software development project!

In summary, this volume is yet another winner from Steve McConnell, and I recommend it highly for anyone in a leadership or senior role in software development. Five Stars!

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

required reading for everyone in the software industry

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2009

Verified Purchase

"Software Estimation" by Steve McConnell provides a very broad overview of many ways to reduce the software estimation errors for your development cycle. Like all of Mr McConnell's books, he provides crystal clear writing with tons of techniques that are ready for application in the real world.

One of the many great things about "software Estimation" is the sheer number of methods he gives. From Lines of code, to function points, to similar projects, to industry estimates (broken down by sub category so that database is different from embedded devices), to t shirt sizing, to maintaining development history: he makes it clear that you have a lot of different options available to you. He takes great pains to emphasize that one size does not fit all. Additionally he gives rationales for when the estimate techniques work in a project's lifecycle.

With all the methods described, another point driven home is that software is something of an art and that you can reduce the amount of uncertainty but you can never fully remove it. None of the methods that improve estimation are silver bullets. I love that he draws the line in the sand here. Its very true and in fact he goes a step further, pointing out that on successful projects the "cone of uncertainty" converges as the project matures. The converse is also true. Wise words indeed.

The final chapter feels more like a tack on, however the message contained therein is something that needs to be stated again and again: marketing/management is not the enemy. It is important to remember that everyone has the same goals and that the battle really should be a collaboration. However good this chapter was, it still felt out of place.

There are a few niggling issues that I had. The biggest gripe is that he talks a lot about estimation software packages. In fact, he makes assumptions that the reader has knowledge of these packages. Working in start-ups, I've never even heard of these packages until this book. Its a small gripe, but it did detract. Another issue would be some of the examples on applying the various techniques towards the end of the book were far too glossy and far to dry. I think there was some good information there but you, as the reader, will need to make a few assumptions. Which, to me, is always a dangerous thing. Not as bad as fighting a land war in Asia, but still dangerous.

Overall though, as a software engineer/manager I found this book to be invaluable. The techniques are usable right away and really helped me convey the uncertainty I had in ways that I wasn't able to in the past. I think this should be required reading for anyone who works in the software industry.

4 people found this helpful

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Moriarty

Good information, so far

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2012

Verified Purchase

I am about half way through the book: the information is very useful and highly readable. I recommend this to anyone who has to estimate software/technology efforts, which I do as part of my living. This book will help one-time estimators, but it is not a cookbook of instant estimates. You must do the work.

The book is a reference and a textbook. The author identifies sections to skip to rather than reading straight through if you have an issue to address. As other reviews address content at length, I will not go into it.

The book discusses (thus far) refining estimates as a project continues and more detail is known, and it assumes this will happen. This is true for a PM managing his effort to stay within budget, but upfront estimates for fixed price contracts permit no such refining for the estimator. There is, however, information to help those of us who must estimate at the budget/proposal/concept stages and need to get it right.

The Kindle version has some issues if you have a black and white Kindle. For one thing, the hardcopy relies on color charts and refers to the blue areas to make a point. But in B&W, there is no differentiation in the shades. This could have been easily fixed using texture or bolding the data element titles. In addition, the chart bottoms don't show unless you significantly reduce text size, affecting readability, and there is still some difficulty seeing the whole chart in some cases. I have experienced this in other Kindle books with charts. That is not enough to dissuade from purchase, as the balance of information is well worth the price. The content deserves 5 stars, but got 4 to address the Kindle issues.

4 people found this helpful

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Graeme

Solid principles that still apply today

Reviewed in Canada on October 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

Gets to the heart of real world software estimation, targets, commitments and project management challenges. Still relevant for any modern software project. Will definitely incorporate many of the tips on a daily basis.

Rafael Issao Miyagawa

Um livro que todos que estão envolvidos com software deveria ler

Reviewed in Brazil on April 12, 2018

Verified Purchase

Um livro esclarecedor sobre como as estimativas deveriam ser utilizadas em um projeto.

Define conceitos importantes, lista alguns motivos de uma estimativa dar errado, lista técnicas de estimativas tanto para projeto incremental ou iterativo e tem dicas de como explicar/transmitir/negociar as estimativas para os gestores ou pessoas responsávei na área de negócio.

Mostra também, com detalhes, o famoso cone da incerteza e ajuda a definir estratégias para cada fase do cone.

E muito mais.

Por favor, leiam!

One person found this helpful

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s.j. van eijndhoven

Must read for all involved in software development

Reviewed in the Netherlands on July 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book is a must read for all involved in managing software development projects. How to deal with the uncertainty when estimating. A clear explanation about the factors that will influence the project effort. And finally how to engage with various stakeholders.

Alessandro Puzielli

Estremamente chiaro

Reviewed in Italy on July 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

Il testo è molto chiaro ,i capitoli non sono scritti in modo accademico ma sono molto esplicativi. Con questo testo ho capito meglio molti concetti delle misure in ambito Agile e #NoEstimates

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Mr P A Blamire

must read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

After the first page or two I thought I'd only end up giving it 3 stars....

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