Software EstimationDemystifying the Black Art

Steve McConnell

PUBLISHED BY Microsoft Press A Division of Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

Copyright © 2006 by Steve McConnell

ISBN:0735605351

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number 2005936847

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Body Part No. X11-82276

Steve McConnell

Steve McConnell is Chief Software Engineer at Construx Software where he oversees Construx's software engineering practices. Steve is the lead for the Construction Knowledge Area of the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) project. Steve has worked on software projects at Microsoft, Boeing, and other Seattle-area companies. Steve was the lead developer of Construx Estimate and of SPC Estimate Professional, winner of a Software Development magazine Productivity Award.

Steve is the author of Rapid Development (1996), Software Project Survival Guide (1998), Professional Software Development (2004) and Code Complete, Second Edition (2004). His books have twice won Software Development magazine's Jolt Product Excellence Award for outstanding software development book of the year. Steve was also the lead developer of SPC Estimate Professional, winner of a Software Development Productivity award. In 1998, readers of Software Development magazine named Steve one of the three most influential people in the software industry, along with Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds.

Steve earned a Bachelor's degree from Whitman College and a Master's degree in software engineering from Seattle University. He lives in Bellevue, Washington.

If you have any comments or questions about this book, please contact Steve at [e-mail] or via www.stevemcconnell.com.

Acknowledgments

I continue to be amazed at the many ways the Internet supports high-quality work. My first book's manuscript was reviewed almost entirely by people who lived within 50 miles of me. This book's manuscript included reviewers from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Iceland, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Japan, Scotland, Spain, and the United States. The book has benefited enormously from these reviews.

Thanks first to the people who contributed review comments on significant portions of the book: Fernando Berzal, Steven Black, David E. Burgess, Stella M. Burns, Gavin Burrows, Dale Campbell, Robert A. Clinkenbeard, Bob Corrick, Brian Donaldson, Jason Hills, William Horn, Carl J Krzystofczyk, Jeffrey D. Moser, Thomas Oswald, Alan M. Pinder, Jon Price, Kathy Rhode, Simon Robbie, Edmund Schweppe, Gerald Simon, Creig R. Smith, Linda Taylor, and Bernd Viefhues.

Thanks also to the people who reviewed selected portions of the book: Lisa M. Adams, Hákon Ágústsson, Bryon Baker, Tina Coleman, Chris Crawford, Dominic Cronin, Jerry Deville, Conrado Estol, Eric Freeman, Hideo Fukumori, C. Dale Hildebrandt, Barbara Hitchings, Jim Holmes, Rick Hower, Kevin Hutchison, Finnur Hrafn Jonsson, Aaron Kiander, Mehmet Kerem Kiziltunç, Selimir Kustudic, Molly J. Mahai, Steve Mattingly, Joe Nicholas, Al Noel, David O'Donoghue, Sheldon Porcina, David J. Preston, Daniel Read, David Spokane, Janco Tanis, Ben Tilly, and Wendy Wilhelm.

I'd especially like to acknowledge Construx's estimation seminar instructors. After years of stimulating discussions, it's often impossible to tell which ideas originated with me and which originated with them. Thanks to Earl Beede, Gregg Boer, Matt Peloquin, Pamela Perrott, and Steve Tockey.

This book focuses on estimation as an art, and this book's simplifications were made possible by researchers who have spent decades clarifying estimation as a science. My heartfelt appreciation to three of the giants of estimation science: Barry Boehm, Capers Jones, and Lawrence Putnam.

Working with Devon Musgrave, project editor for this book, has once again been a privilege. Thanks, Devon! Becka McKay, assistant editor, also improved my original manuscript in countless ways. Thanks also to the rest of the Microsoft Press staff, including Patricia Bradbury, Carl Diltz, Tracey Freel, Jessie Good, Patricia Masserman, Joel Panchot, and Sandi Resnick. And thanks to indexer Seth Maislin.

Thanks finally to my wife, Ashlie, who is—in my estimation—the best life partner I could ever hope for.