Software Development Estimation: A Quick Guide

Software Development Estimation: A Quick Guide

Software development estimation is an essential part of many projects, but it is often overlooked. It is a process by which one can accurately determine the amount of effort, as in time and money, necessary to deliver or maintain a software-based project. It takes into account the software development company's unique techniques and processes used to complete tasks, and is expected to have an error margin within the five to 10 percent range. To estimate costs and effort in software development projects, it is important to map the software development life cycle and use all of the means at your disposal. Check your project requirements and ensure they match those defined by stakeholders or clients.

Make a Work Breakdown Structure to collect tasks and deliverables. Use a Software Estimation Technique to estimate time and costs. Brainstorming with experienced team and experts can offer valuable insights. The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a tool used to estimate the time and effort for a project. It is composed of two formats: outline view and tree diagram.

The outline view presents the entire project and uses numbers to record its stages. The tree diagram shows the entire project including the final deliverable on top with a row of all project stages underneath. There are two types of WBS: functional and activity. The functional WBS is broken down based on functions in the application, while the activity WBS breaks down activities into tasks. This is the type of WBS that helps estimate the effort and schedule.