What Is an Estimate?
A practical definition of an estimate comes from the Project Management Institute's “Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” [PMI00]. The guide defines an estimate as follows:
An assessment of the likely quantitative result. Usually applied to project costs and durations and should always include some indication of accuracy (e.g.,+/– x percent).
Literally, an estimate is a prediction. But it's not just any kind of prediction, like a horoscope, tarot card reading, or a fortune-cookie fortune. It's a quantitative prediction, like how much a product will cost to develop, how long that development will take, how many problem reports will come in from customers, how much income will be earned in the sixth month after ...
Get Return on Software: Maximizing the Return on Your Software Investment now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
