Software Estimating – 2-Day Workshop – Fall 2015

Register Now

Speaker: Robin Goldsmith

Monday, November 23rd and Tuesday, November 24th

Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA

Decision (Run/Cancel) Date for this Courses is 13 November 2015

Payment received by 9 November

IEEE Members $415
Non-members $430

Payment received after 9 November

IEEE Members $430
Non-members $455

Phone 781-245-5405
email sec.boston@ieee.org
Fax 781-245-5406

Make Checks payable to:
IEEE Boston Section
One Centre Street, Suite 203
Wakefield, MA 01880

Course Overview:

Software Estimating
2-Day Intensive Seminar Workshop
Making more reliable time, effort, and resources estimates come true

Unreliable estimates are a major reason many software projects are late, over-budget, and poor quality. Historically, estimating has been so weak in IT that some people simply assume it is impossible to estimate IT activities accurately, which in turn can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In fact, though, a number of methods and approaches enable more accurate estimates which can produce huge direct and indirect benefits. This interactive seminar describes key causes of estimating pitfalls and effective estimating concepts and techniques to overcome the difficulties. Methods address estimating not only coding but also other project components in both agile and more traditional projects. And, rather than just being a static up-front exercise, the course shows dynamic techniques that effective estimators use throughout the project to control progress as well as to refine and improve their estimates and estimating skills. Exercises enhance learning by allowing participants to practice applying practical techniques to realistic examples.

Participants will learn:

* Estimation and control roles, issues, and impacts on project success.
* Appropriate uses and limitations of rapid top-down and parametric estimates.
* Work breakdown structure bottom-up estimating techniques and issues.
* Point counting and related size estimation techniques.
* Estimating schedules and resources.
* Separately estimating testing, importance and techniques.
* Controlling activities and refining estimates throughout the project.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: This course has been designed for project managers, analysts, designers, programmers, QA/testers auditors, and others who need to estimate software and software projects.

ESTIMATING AND PROJECT SUCCESS
Project management, development lifecycles
Why estimates destine most projects to fail
Impediments to influencing estimates
Game-playing, countering Parkinson’s Law
Real causes of scope creep
Self-fulfilling self-defeating prophecies
Defining scope that doesn’t creep so much
Problem Pyramid™ disciplined definition
Requirements negotiation model
Deliverable value-based estimating
Product backlog similarities and differences

ESTIMATION CONCEPTS, TOP-DOWN
“Knowing” estimating is impossible
How effective estimators differ
All estimates relate reference to target
Similarity, scalability, history
Top-down estimating, advantages
Main reasons top-down often is inaccurate
Top position relevance for top-down
Rule-of-thumb techniques, traps
Wide-band Delphi
Code sizing-based project estimates
Parametric estimating algorithms
Factors affecting parametric accuracy
BOTTOM-UP ESTIMATING
Need to identify project activities regardless
Major reason estimates are inaccurate
Work-breakdown structure technique
Level-by-level increase in precision
Near- and far-term detail differences
Identifying effort by resource and skill level
Implicit vs. explicit duration
Work packet roll-up
Addressing contingencies and oversights
Relating to top-down estimates, fudge factor
Adjusting for skill level
Dealing with risk and uncertainty
Theory of Constraints, buffers
Life cycle and other ways to identify tasks

AGILE PROJECT ESTIMATING
Agile project concept differences
Determining sprints and backlogs
Defining user stories
Conversations to elaborate user stories
Story point sizing
Planning poker
T-shirt sizing
Timeboxing vs. estimating
Refactoring
POINT-COUNTING ESTIMATES
Lines of code sizing issues
Function point counting concepts
Reliability
Identifying types of functions
Categorizing complexity
Calculating unadjusted function points
Determining adjustment factor
Calibrating to effort
Productivity variables
Individual differences
Applicability to agile development
Use case point counting
Defining consistent use case detail level
Accounting for supplemental specifications

TEST-BASED TASK ESTIMATES
Importance of separately estimating testing
Issues estimating testing based on code size
What is a test case
Use case scenarios
White box structural control flow tests
How many tests do we need, quality levels
Historical defect statistics, precision
Risk-based testing
Estimating execution effort, duration
Sizing test documentation
Creating test data
Analyzing and reporting results
Defect isolation
Defect advocacy
Test set-up and tear-down time
Factoring in defect, fix, and bad fix rates
Determining test cycles, regression tests
Exploratory and ad hoc testing
Test automation factors and issues
Unique factors for each type of special test
Relevance to testing in agile development

OTHER TESTING TASKS TO ESTIMATE
Establishing the test environment, lab
Data creation, loading, extraction, updating
Receiving and installing software
Acquiring automated testing tools
Getting training
Anticipating and addressing delays
Administrative demands on TM, Test Team
Recruiting and hiring staff
Coordinating with developers and users
Manual vs. automated productivity
Applying inspections, higher-yield methods

ESTIMATING THE SCHEDULE
Separating task definition from scheduling
Productive time scheduling practicalities
PERT and weighted averages risk reduction
Gantt charts and resource leveling
Concurrencies and dependencies
Dependency networks
Dependency network diagramming
Critical Path and Critical Chain
Value of slack
Risk reserves, contingencies, and Plan B
Constraints, imposed dates
Identifying and addressing resource conflicts
Fast tracking, schedule compression
Resource-constrained project issues

RE-ESTIMATING DURING THE PROJECT
Recording actuals against estimates
Identifying systematic estimating errors
Earned value measure of completion
Relation of defects to project control
Defect categorization, trends
Projecting defects remaining
Release criteria
Monitoring and projecting arrival rate
Identifying and attacking bug colonies
Automated PM tools suitability, warnings
Metrics for communication
Metrics for control and improvement
Reporting to management, key to influence

Speaker Info
GO PRO MANAGEMENT, INC.
22 CYNTHIA ROAD
NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS 02494-1412
__________
(781) 444-5753
INFO@GOPROMANAGEMENT.COM
WWW.GOPROMANAGEMENT.COM