Agile Estimating and Planning
Estimation of products and projects is process that is often done badly and for the wrong reasons. It tends to be used as a method to try to persuade or compel developers into doing the same but faster. This is a shame as more important activities of choosing between projects and options seem to get lost in the mess created.
Mike Cohn in the book frequently points out that a good plan can be used to make decisions with enough accuracy. If the project when carried out, takes more resources then the plan is at fault. If when estimating you fail to make slack for unexpected events, then it doesn’t mean that the people who carried it out are automatically lazy and incompetent for overruns.
The book is focused on planning in an agile environment, where frequent evidence-based plans are needed. It gives good coverage of the actions needed to ensure that users get higher value functionality quicker.
Particularly interesting I found was the discussion of the financial aspects of planning. Often in software and research areas the ones directly carrying out the work can become too removed from the monitory value of what they do. It goes to the extent of demonstrating calculating instruments such as the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return. This level of depth is welcome if unusual in book primarily about software development.
An agile estimating and planning process recognizes that our knowledge is always incomplete and requires that plans be revised as we learn. As a team learns more about the product they are building, new features are added to the release plan. As the team learns more about the technologies they are using or about how well they are working together, expectations about their rate of progress are adjusted. For a plan to remain useful, this new knowledge needs to be incorporated into the plan.
Excellent book, useful for learning to plan and estimate in an adaptive way.
More details of Agile Estimating and Planning at Mountain Goat Software