Chapter 11: Estimation by Analogy

Overview

Applicability of Techniques in This Chapter
	Estimation by Analogy
What's estimated	Size, Effort, Schedule, Features
Size of project	S M L
Development stage	Early-Late
Iterative or sequential	Both
Accuracy possible	Medium

Gigacorp (a fictional corporation) was about to begin work on Triad 1.0, a companion product to its successful AccSellerator 1.0 sales-presentation software. Mike had been appointed project manager of Triad 1.0, and he needed a ballpark estimate for an upcoming sales planning meeting. He called his staff meeting to order.

"As you know, we're embarking on development of Triad 1.0," he said. "The technical work is very similar to AccSellerator 1.0. I see this project as being a little bigger overall than AccSellerator 1.0, but not much bigger."

"The database is going to be quite a bit bigger," Jennifer volunteered. "But the user interface should be about the same size."

"It will have a lot more graphs and reports than AccSellerator 1.0 had, too, but the foundation classes should be very similar; I think we'll end up with the same number of classes." Joe said.

"That all sounds right to me," Mike said. "I think this gives me enough to do a back-of-the-envelope calculation of project effort. My notes indicate that the total effort for the last system was 30 staff months. What do you think is a reasonable ballpark estimate for the effort of the new system?"

What do you think is a reasonable ballpark estimate for the effort of the new system?