Chapter 2. Project Estimating

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No one can draw more out of things, books included, than he already knows . A man has no ears for that to which experience has given him no access.

”Friedrich Nietzsche

Estimation is alchemy! We can't just add up the number of Web pages and functions and multiply by some level of complexity to get a magic answer. For years we tried to do this and ruined our businesses and customer relationships. XP offers a new way grounded in our day-to-day experiences. Better yet, with XP it is okay to be wrong.

Web developers are no better at estimation than software developers are. In fact, given the multiskilled team requirements for Web projects, only the very best project managers have even a clue about how long something will take. Nevertheless, Web companies have tried a variety of estimation techniques, such as:

• Equations

• Man hours

• Fixed-price quotes

• Past projects

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