One thing that was increasingly obvious in the software industry was that our approaches to estimating or predicting the outcome of a project were out of whack. As a software team, we were often passed detailed requirements to analyze, then do some initial design work, and provide a work breakdown with estimates.
We'd be working on one project and then at the same time asked to estimate on another. The estimates we were told would inform the decision on whether the project was viable and would be funded. Some teams tried to be sophisticated, using algorithmic estimating techniques such as Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO), COCOMO II, Source lines of code (SLOC), and Function Point. Most estimating methods incorporated rule of thumb ...
