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Software Development Cross Solution - Index of - Free

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Cubicle conversation<br />

Getting rid <strong>of</strong><br />

assumptions<br />

is the most<br />

important<br />

activity for<br />

coming up with<br />

estimates you<br />

believe in.<br />

So Laura, we can’t both be totally<br />

wrong. But how did we get such<br />

completely different estimates?<br />

gathering requirements<br />

Laura: Well, let’s start with the first user story. How did you come up with 10<br />

days?<br />

Bob: That’s easy, I just picked the most popular credit cards I could think <strong>of</strong>, and<br />

added time to support PayPal...<br />

Laura: But lots <strong>of</strong> high-end executives only use American Express, so my<br />

assumption was that we’d have to cope with that card, too, not just Visa and<br />

MasterCard.<br />

Bob: Okay, but I’m still not feeling entirely happy with that. Just that one<br />

assumption is making a really big difference on how long it will take to develop<br />

that user story...<br />

Laura: I know, but what can you do, we don’t know what the customer expects...<br />

Bob: But look at this...you came up with 20 days for “Ordering a Flight DVD,”<br />

but even with all the options, that should be 14 days, max!<br />

Laura: I was actually being on the conservative side. The problem is that creating<br />

a DVD is a completely new feature, something I haven’t done before. I was<br />

factoring in overhead for researching how to create DVDs, installing s<strong>of</strong>tware, and<br />

getting everything tested. Everything I thought I’d need to do to get that s<strong>of</strong>tware<br />

written. So it came out a lot higher.<br />

Bob: Wow, I hadn’t even thought <strong>of</strong> those things. I just assumed that they’d been<br />

thought <strong>of</strong> and included. I wonder if the rest <strong>of</strong> the estimates included tasks like<br />

research and s<strong>of</strong>tware installation?<br />

Laura: In my experience, probably not. That’s why I cover my back.<br />

Bob: But then all <strong>of</strong> our estimates could be <strong>of</strong>f...<br />

Laura: Well, at least we agree on the “Create a Flight Review” story. That’s<br />

something.<br />

Bob: Yeah, but I even had assumptions I made there, and that still doesn’t take<br />

into account some <strong>of</strong> that overhead you were talking about.<br />

Laura: So all we have are a bunch <strong>of</strong> estimates we don’t feel that confident about.<br />

How are we going to come up with a number for the project that we believe when<br />

we don’t even know what everyone’s assumptions are?<br />

Download at WoweBook.Com<br />

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