The only way is to split the work into small manageable pieces maybe less than 10 hours each. At microsoft, mcconnell worked on truetype as part of windows 3. Estimation is difficult in software and everywhere else. When executives ask for an estimate, theyre often asking for a commitment or for a plan to meet a target. Software estimation with steve mcconnell ryan ripley. Mcconnell published his first book, code complete, in 1993.
Proper project planning and control is not possible without a sound and reliable estimate. Software estimation is the most difficult single task in software engineering a close second being requirements elicitation. Software estimation in depth construx software youtube. There are no silver bullets most of these techniques take work and practice but by breaking down the process of estimation mcconnell. Software estimation steve mcconnell abdulmoniems thoughts. Demystifying the black art, steve mcconnell explains that the distinctions between estimates, targets, and commitments are critical to understanding what an estimate is, what an estimate is not, and how to make your estimates better. Mcconnell has the knack of making complex research accessible to practitioners. Mcconnell s book starts with some simple but often misinterpreted definitions of the difference. This issue has been also brought up by software estimation by steve mcconnell, manage it by johanna rothman, lean software development by mary poppendieck and a number of other people.
As an independent, privatelyowned company, weve been making customers happy since the turn of the century. Demystifying the black art developer best practices kindle edition by mcconnell, steve. Sep 09, 2011 steve mcconnell, construx instructor, teaching estimation in depth seminar. Working with stakeholders using viewpoints and perspectives by nick. Demystifying the black art, steve mcconnell microsoft press, 2006 neal ford on agile engineering practices, neal ford oreilly media, 2011 bliki, a combined blog and wiki by martin folwer, self described loudmouthed pundit on the topic of software. Software estimation by steve mcconnell ms press is a good read. Jun 30, 2006 30 jun 2006 how good an estimator are you. Mcconnell immediately differentiates between software estimation as a science and software estimation as an art within the first pages of the introduction to this work he explains that while software estimation research is currently focused on improving estimation techniques so that project. Demystifying the black art by steve mcconnell, counting on frank by rod clement, agile estimating and p. We had been reading steve mcconnell s book on software estimation, and having weekly discussions about the chapters weve. Its for everyone with a stake in the outcome of a development projectand especially for those without formal software project management. We share what weve learned about how to make great software, both by writing about our ideas and by creating products, like fogbugz, trello and gomix, that help others make great technology. Youre reading joel on software, stuffed with years and years of completely raving mad articles about software development, managing software teams, designing user interfaces, running successful software companies, and rubber duckies.
How possible is it to estimate time for programming projects. This is one reason i think why iterative projects have much more success that large phased waterfall projects. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading software estimation. Taming wild software schedules which has 2 excellent chapters about work estimation and scheduling. Over the years, ive learned a lot more about schedules and estimates. One of the best contemporary books on software engineering. Mcconnell immediately differentiates between software estimation as a science and software estimation as an art within the first pages of the introduction to this work he explains that while software estimation research is currently focused on improving estimation. Evidencebased scheduling is based on at least two core ideas. Over the past couple of months, ive been participating in a virtual book club. See all books authored by steve mcconnell, including code complete, and rapid development, and more on. Software estimationdemystifying the black art software. Granularity in terms of days is what you should be using when estimating software or hardware for that matter tasks.
It takes as long as it takes, and its done when its done. Thats why i highly recommend mcconnell s book, software estimation. Oct 26, 2007 evidence based scheduling is built into fogbugz 6. Software project survival guide isbn 9781572316218 pdf. Mcconnell summarizes the process of software development estimation as. 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 magazines productivity award. Equip yourself with software project survival guide. Steve mcconnell books list of books by author steve. Demystifying the black art best practices microsoft,2004, isbn 0735605351, ean 0735605351, by mcconnell s. In this book, mcconnell provides the reader with tools to improve their estimation skills. The person doing a given piece of work has final say on its estimate. Thus the original estimate column in painless software schedules. Navigate the sharkinfested political waters that surround project estimates. 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.
Tired of guesstimating your estimation process just to create a completion date management will accept. He is chief software engineer of construx software and was the lead developer of construx estimate and of spc estimate professional, winner of software. The only software thats worth making is software that does something new. Demystifying the black art, steve mcconnell, oreilly media, inc. This generally ends up in either lines of code loc or function. Software estimation is a difficult art that i am still learning despite developing software for more than twenty years. Joel spolsky fog creek software tuesday, march 23, 2004. In his highly anticipated book, acclaimed author steve mcconnell unravels the mystery to successful software estimation. Mar 04, 2006 software estimation by steve mcconnell provides a very broad overview of many ways to reduce the software estimation errors for your development cycle.
Evidencebased scheduling is a software estimation approach created by joel spolsky. While not as immediate as code complete, software estimation is still an interesting and wellwritten book. The main thing with software estimate is summarized by the following. A newer, far better method for producing accurate software schedules painlessly is.
Demystifying the black art opens with a quiz designed to test your estimation abilities. It may sound counterintuitive, but the idea is to focus on the fact that all projects face unforeseen delays. This book offers practical advice for estimating software. Demystifying the black art developer best practices.
Steve mcconnell is recognized as one of the premier authors and voices in the development community. Steve mcconnell s software estimation posted on 120808 at 11. At boeing, he worked on a strategic defense initiative project. One can find a very good cocomo based estimation software from the usc university of southern california website at this link. Our host joel recommends evidencebased scheduling, which includes methods to account for inaccurate estimation, interruptions and distractions, and all the other usual suspects. I have worked on a number of projects that started with some broad vision and manager asked me how many manmonths will it take. It takes real intelligence to break down the problem into small chunks and estimate those, and no software is going to do that for you. From 1996 to 1998, he was the editor of the best practices column in the ieee software magazine. Mcconnell writes, accurate software estimates acknowledge that software projects are assailed by uncertainty from all quarters.
Demystifying the black art developer best practices by steve mcconnell. Software estimation is sometimes referred to as the black art because of its complexity and uncertainty, but mcconnell argues that software estimation is not as difficult or mysterious as people think. Reading steve mcconnell s book software estimation. Software project estimation effective software project estimation is one of the most challenging and important activities in software development. Software estimation by steve mcconnell provides a very broad overview of many ways to reduce the software estimation errors for your development cycle. Read the article by william roetzheim which is ava.
Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required. A short writeup on why estimating software using loc is a. Taming wild software schedules which has 2 excellent chapters about work estimation and. Demystifying the black art developer best practices enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. So it must be made clear that your estimate is not the target date. In his highly anticipated book, acclaimed author steve mcconnell unravels the mystery to successful software estimation distilling academic information and realworld experience into a practical guide for working software.
Flow of software estimates on a wellestimated project. One of the most challenging aspects of any software project is estimation determining how long the work will take. Individual development tasks are easy to estimate, because youve written. From 1996 to 1998, he was the editor of the best practices column in the ieee software. Demystifying the black art developer best practices mcconnell, steve on. In both of these software tools you can calibrate using historical data for getting accurate estimates. Without historical information, your estimates are useless. Often referred to as the black art because of its complexity and uncertainty, software estimation is not as difficult or puzzling as people think. Excel spreadsheet, 7 columns, maybe another column for the name of the assigned developer, and get on with your life. Pick up steve mcconnell s book software estimation. The topic of software estimation is large, so in this article im going to focus on one of mcconnell s topics. There are a lot of tactics for creating them, all based on getting good. Nov 30, 2009 steve mcconnell is recognized as one of the premier authors and voices in the development community. Apply estimation approaches to any type of projectsmall or large, agile or traditional.
Its an interesting exercise, so i thought everyone might like to give it a shot. Joel spolsky talks about painless software schedules in his book. May 06, 2002 when you read the latest book about extreme programming, or one of steve mcconnells excellent books, or joel on software, or software development magazine, you see a lot of claims about how to do software development, but you hardly ever see any mention of what kind of development theyre talking about, which is unfortunate, because. In my experience, he added, no piece of software takes more than about one hundred days. When many corporate software projects are failing, mcconnell shows you what works for successful software estimation. In his highly anticipated book, acclaimed author steve mcconnell unravels the mystery to successful software estimationdistilling academic information and realworld experience into a practical guide for working software professionals. Jonathan kohl takes the guess work out of estimations by focusing on uncertainties. Software is easy to make, except when you want it to do something new.
Demystifying the black art best practices, by steve mcconnell, microsoft press, 2006, reposted here mcconnell immediately differentiates between software estimation as a science and software estimation as an art within the first pages of the introduction to this work he explains that while software. As a whole, the software industry doesnt estimate projects well and doesnt use estimates appropriately. While mcconnell goes on to include less obvious activities such as holidays, sick days and project support, he and most others identify such as activities. Software developers dont really like to make schedules. I have chosen to read this book because i am in a middle of job requires me to estimate a web project and to put a detailed plan for developing this application. If you take a look at the white papers section of the construx website free registration required, but its worth it youll find a number of excellent presentations in pdf format that are good reminders and primers when dealing with daunting software estimation tasks. Two dozen programmers, three years, 4,732 bugs, and one quest for transcendent software. Software project estimation 101 the four basic steps in software project estimation are. Another software is from construx which is free to use and can be downloaded from here. Software estimation s cone of uncertainty steve mcconnell, construx, inc. I also founded fog creek software, one of the most influential small tech companies in the world. Im looking forward to starting development work with my new employer in a few weeks.
Steve mcconnells software estimation posted on 120808 at 11. Aug 05, 2002 joel is correct the most important item when estimating schedules is task granularity. Je recommend reading steve mcconnell rapid development. Martin design patterns by erich gamma code complete by steve mcconnell. The basic software estimation story is that software development is a process of gradual refinement. Patricia bradbury, carl diltz, tracey freel, jessie good, patricia masserman, joel panchot. We also have many ebooks and user guide is also related. Software estimation expands and updates the material on estimating from the earlier book.