A Comparison of Effort Estimation Techniques on Software Projects: How Long Will Your Project Take?

Effort estimation is a core practice in software projects to help project managers work out the duration and cost of their project. This book compares different industry approaches to effort estimation and explains how to use each in a straightforward way with a real-life case study example so the reader can learn to apply it immediately. The approaches covered here range from more traditional function points to agile story points and Kanban estimation techniques. The reader will also learn how to answer the question all managers dread: “How is your project going?” with earned value analysis. There are exercises for the reader to apply the approaches with answers and explanations provided. This highly readable book is a valuable, go-to resource for software project managers, teachers of software project management, and students of computer science, information systems and software engineering who will become the project managers of the future.