A Full Guide on Software Development Time Estimation
“Time is money”
“Your time is way too valuable to be wasting”
“Time is precious. Waste it wisely”
….. And the list goes on. You will find a plethora of such quotes and sayings about one of the most important and valuable things in life — TIME Management. Whether it’s your personal life or professional, when time passes us, we cannot go back and regret what happened. Spending it in the right manner will lead you to an immense amount of success and not doing so might make you a lot to lose. This is true for every situation, scenario, and conducting a software development project is no exception.
A quick reality check, most of the software development projects tend to exceed their time estimations and result in the unexpected/unwanted magnified budget, lost revenue, and missed market opportunities. Hang this is just for the business, for a software development company loss the way more including service level agreement penalties. Seems like the worst nightmare, isn’t it!
Now you must be wondering what has time estimation to do with the success or failure of your development project? Well, there are plenty of reasons but right now I can think only a couple of that is convincing enough.
Reason #1 — It is very important to plan the project and set the deadlines for its delivery and time estimation does no different. In fact, taking such initiatives also makes a huge impact on your reliability and competence.
Reason #2 — By estimating adequate time, software developers can determine the cost in a hassle-free manner.
After reading this, would I still like to underestimate the amount of time needed to conduct a successful software development project? I don’t think so! Whether you are a novice who is not familiar with the tasks to be carried out or an experienced professional who knows the importance of taking unexpected events and unscheduled priority work to take into account; time management is very crucial. It’s the foundation or base on which the entire building can be constructed, i.e. a background for effective project realization.
Understand the Notion of Time Estimation in Software Development in Detail
Before delving into any details further, let us get acquainted with the term time estimation. It is referred to as the assessment of the number of hours needed to complete a task or a series of the same. But the question is how to commence it successfully?
Create a work breakdown structure + Assess hours to each task = Total Time Estimated
Software developers should create a list of tasks through which they will be able to achieve significant project milestones and deliverables. And then try assigning hours, days, weeks, months to all these activities and sum up to get the total of time necessary to complete the project. Realistic project expectations, foreseeing risks, organizing procedures, focusing on the priorities right from the start is what this time estimation activity leads to.
Estimate Time for Software Development — The Why Part
According to several sources, among 5,402 of the surveyed international specialists, 25% viewed inadequate time estimation as a primary cause of recent project failures in their organizations. In fact, Gartner also predicted schedule overruns is one of the major reasons for the failure of large IT projects with high-end budgets.
However, inefficient timing is not the only reason which results in complete project failure all at once. Several other factors are leading to this chaos such as due to the third party's actions and environmental factors, any kind of unwanted outcome of unforeseen changes, poor planning, and so forth.
Cost overrun is just a part and parcel but an important one if neglected it will definitely lead to a severe downfall. Let us view different perspectives on how software time is advantageous for software vendors as well as clients.
For the Client
- With proper guidance and estimation, they are able to forecast the whole scope of work being done and the time taken till the launch date.
- They get to know the cost associated with software development
- Slowly several plans can be made for acceptance testing, product launch and so more.
For Software Development Companies
- Prioritizing wisely is what matters the most
- They are able to dedicate resources according to the time pre-determined
- If they are multi-tasking, which is the scenario in most of the software developers they exactly know where to spend time and where not to.
Can these estimations go wrong? Well before I answer that in a straightforward manner, let me give you an example. Imagine you are planning to build a house featuring 1 bedroom with an attached bath, 1 drawing and dining, 1 kitchen, and no balcony. Your real-estate agent gave an estimated time of around 10–12 months.
After a while, you change your mind and ask for 2 bedrooms and a balcony, estimated time offered is 14–15 months. Then again you ask your professional to change the plan from 2 bedrooms to 3 bedrooms, 2 attached baths. As a result, the development time increases to 20–21 months. Similarly, while conducting a software development project — new criteria are expected to be added and deleted at regular intervals — More than often estimates fail and costs overrun.
Further below I would like to give a gist of software development challenges that might put these estimates at risk.
- The constant change in business requirements — Most software development companies have to face such situations where things keep on changing and it becomes difficult to estimate time. And that’s the reason why your “Business Requirement Document” should be kept as your holy grail. In case, if anything task is added it will be done with an estimated time to develop on an individual basis.
- Research & Development — R & D is extremely important while working on any software development project. But the only problem is people think it’s a waste of time to mock up whereas, in reality, it takes more time than what was estimated here if not considered the actual R&D.
- Availability of designers and developers — Another crucial reason for project delay is the unavailability of professionals. So make sure to choose a custom software development company that comprises a team of several developers who can fill in when necessary leading to the continuation of the project.
In most of the cases, all the problems mentioned above do occur and fail due to an inappropriate estimate. So what to do? Pad it up! By doing this to the estimates works wonders especially for the unknowns. Apart from that let me share more ways so that time estimation never becomes a headache or a bottleneck for a custom software developer.
Estimate Software Development Time — Can one Nail it Right?
This might be way easier said than done but hey! It is a doable job. All you require doing is consider the below-mentioned pointers.
Subject evaluation
By doing this one will be able to make predictions regarding the most realistic efforts that must be put into developing software. By acknowledging accurate timeframes, they will be able to rock any project. Now there is only one problem or paradox — it is said people who are most capable of time management are least interesting in implementation. So make sure to choose a team of software developers who can prove you wrong by doing things right.
See if the developer can make a list of all required tasks in detail and perform business requirement analysis correctly or not.
Each activity counts
After you have defined and prioritized all the activities try to make time estimations on an individual basis for each one of these. Also, mark milestones and ask your programmer whether he or she is well-equipped to achieve these targets or not?
Do not forget to consider aspects like admin, emergency cases, communication issues, meetings, holidays, vacations, sick leaves, code reviews, and so more. Other than activities it is crucial to think of who must be involved. I mean teamwork, group brainstorming, panel discussions are way healthier than creating a one-man army.
So choose the team of software developers, business analysts, testers, designers wisely!
After release
Do you think you are done here! Probably not! Probably it’s time to evaluate all the solid and powerless purposes of your undertaking assessment post-factum. Break down why it went that way and what can be improved in the future. This will assist you with sharpening your abilities and improve next time.
Eccentric Software Development Approaches to Consider
First, this one is pretty classic and popular! All you require is 2 people — the one who works on the app (software developer) and one who will estimate the time taken while developing the app (project manager, analyst, or anyone). Now you must be wondering logically why the programmer working cannot estimate the time single-handedly. Well, in general scenarios, developers tend to put more hours than it takes in reality and this is true at least for those who are estimating these times. As a result, they work more slowly showcasing less productivity and high cost. So try involving another tech-guy who knows how things work.
Second, if your project is large involving more than 2 software developers the classic approach won’t fit in. So what’s the easiest way to ask the software development company to bring in their agile team to prepare the time estimation jointly. This is what Planning Poker or Scrum Poker is all about.
How is this beneficial? Well, one of the obvious things to consider is you get several experts at your service each with a unique experience. The workload is divided leading to improvisation in the accuracy of the estimates and justifies it.
And, That’s a Wrap!
Projects fail not due to development issues but incorrect estimates are taken. I hope you get the key takeaway from the post. Say Goodbye to unrealistic time estimates right away!
