Excerpts

Preface In-house systems for accounting, production control, and e-business Applications sold commercially in the mass market ("shrink-wrapped products") Large, complex, "one-of-a-kind" military, industrial, and commercial systems Projects to develop and maintain software-intensive systems can involve the following: Designing, building, testing, and distributing software components Selecting and purchasing commercial software and hardware components Configuring and, in some cases, designing hardware Training and supporting users Practitioners who develop, manage, procure, or operate software-intensive systems need to estimate and measure the resources needed to perform such activities. They also need to calculate costs, set bid prices, and evaluate cost and price. Some practitioners also need to estimate and measure the usage of computer resources, product quality (defects), and the effectiveness and efficiency of production processes. The Book To meet these needs, this book describes practical, proven estimating techniques that are simple and easy to use. Numerous examples show how to apply the techniques correctly. One example shows how to construct, calibrate, and use a complete cost model for software maintenance. The book explains how to use Microsoft Excel to build estimating and tracking tools. It provides implementation guidance and aids (checklists, templates, and spreadsheets). Boxes in each chapter provide details on specific topics. A "Recommended Reading" section at the end of each chapter directs readers to sources of additional information. Appendixes provide supplemental information, including acronyms and an extensive glossary. You can use computer-based tools to generate an estimate in a few minutes. Remember, however, that estimation is more than clever techniques, parametric models, and tools however. The greatest challenge for an estimator is deciding where to start when faced with a blank sheet of paper. For example, during a proposal, engineers, managers, planners, and estimators must quickly gain an understanding of the user's problem and requirements, the structure of the solution, and the process needed to design, build, and deliver that solution. This book describes ways to help readers quickly "get their arms around" a product or system that they have never seen before. It also provides guidance on selecting appropriate estimating techniques and tools based on the type of resource and project phase. This book discusses measurement and data collection so that readers can obtain accurate data to track progress, prepare updated estimates, and calibrate estimating models. For example, it describes different measures of software size, including use case points, function points, and source lines of code. The book describes earned value measurement and provides practical suggestions to address the particular needs of large projects related to status tracking and cost accounting. This book covers a wide range of topics and techniques. To help you quickly find information, the book has 27 chapters, organized into five parts: The Essentials The Details Closing the Feedback Loop Handling Large Projects Estimating Products and Processes This book is relevant to both small and large projects using either agile or plan-driven production processes. Much of the material applies to criteria in process maturity models and to earned value measurement. The book also addresses internal Information Technology applications, mass market shrink-wrapped products, and complex systems. The CD-ROM To help you quickly apply new techniques, the book has a CD-ROM with templates, spreadsheets, short "Notes" on specific topics, and examples showing how to use the features of Microsoft Excel to analyze, plot, and manage data. This will help you build your own tools for estimating and tracking. The CD-ROM also contains the references I used in preparing this book. These include books, journal articles, and conference proceedings. The bibliography is in Rich Text Format so that you can search it with a document editor. The CD-ROM also lists related web sites. (I have generally restricted my web references to established organizations such as official government organizations and professional societies. Universities and companies are less certain but sometimes are the only source of information.) The Web Site The book's Web site, http://sw-estimation.com , supplements the book by providing updated information, more Notes, and additional spreadsheets, as well as the errata for the book. This information is cross-indexed to the book. The web site also has links to relevant web sites, including professional organizations and tool vendors. The Benefits This book will enable you to start preparing better estimates immediately. You can use the techniques, templates, tools, and implementation guidance to define a disciplined and repeatable process to produce accurate and complete estimates for your projects, products, and processes. This book also provides you with a foundation to tackle new estimating situations in the future. Dick Stutzke Huntsville, Alabama December, 2004 Acknowledments Many people provided information, suggestions, criticisms, and support that helped make this a better book. My many professional colleagues generously shared their knowledge and ideas. These include Barry Boehm and his colleagues at the USC Center for Software Engineering: Winsor Brown, Ray Madachy, Brad Clark, Sunita Chulani, and Chris Abts. Don Reifer generously shared ideas on the audience, content, and structure of this book. Wolf Goethert at the SEI reviewed early drafts of the book and provided information and reports. Brad Tyler and I co-authored the original description of the Linear Method in April 1990 that was the basis for Chapter 3. Ken Powers and members of the SAIC Business Automation Team (Boyce Beech, Robin Brasher, George Sumners, and Tommy Guerin) provided technical assistance and practical suggestions for developing many of the book's spreadsheets. Robert "Mutt" Suttles helped with graphics. Over the years, teaching software engineers and managers has helped me understand their needs and the fundamental concepts at a deeper level. Many students have encouraged me to write this book. Gordon Wright and Neil Marple, instructors for SAIC's estimating courses, also shared ideas and student feedback. Bill Craig, Fred Reed, and the staff of the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command, Aviation and Missile RDEC, Software Engineering Directorate provided the opportunity to apply estimating and measurement techniques to a wide range of software-intensive systems over the past 12 years. Other colleagues who contributed in various ways include Carol Dekkers, Tom DeMarco, George Bozoki, Dan Ligett, Richard Thayer, Jim Magnusson, Lloyd Mosemann, Jerry Obenour, Scott Donaldson, Stan Siegel, and Barbara Hitchings. John Fodeh shared his spreadsheet of the Waterman error trending model, which became TRENDX.XLS. Laura Zuber provided FPLEDGER.XLS, which became FP.xls. Martin Stutzke provided an example of a Monte Carlo simulation written in Excel VBA. Extra special thanks to Sharon Gaetano for continuing support. Various individuals reviewed parts of the book and provided valuable comments. Early reviewers included Wolf Goethert, Harry Delugach, Steve Tockey, Brad Tyler, Chuck Connell, and Gary Thomas. Kathy Hedges reviewed several early chapters and provided detailed suggestions. Reviewers of the first draft (May 2004) included Mike Tarrani, Tom McGibbon, Kelly Butler, Jim Brosseau, Ron Lichty, and two anonymous reviewers. Ron Lichty's 40 pages of detailed comments were especially helpful, and led to a restructuring of the book. Dick Fitzer of SAIC reviewed the final manuscript. Peter Gordon, my editor at Pearson Education, guided me, provided sage advice, and never lost hope over the many years it took to produce this book. (Thanks to Anita Carleton and Kim Caputo for recommending Peter.) The Pearson Education production staff in Boston and Indianapolis completed a lot of quality work in a short time. Many SAIC employees shared their knowledge as we worked together on various proposals and projects. Certain individuals deserve special mention. Tony Jordano sponsored the development and update of SAIC's estimating courses over the years, which provided me the opportunity to test and hone my ideas. Rod Roberts provided encouragement and support throughout the project. Ken Powers provided tips on using Microsoft Office and helped debug VBA macros on numerous occasions. Mary Ellen Harris promptly obtained numerous reprints and researched obscure citations. The Redstone Scientific Information Center provided access to technical books and journals. Most importantly, I would like to thank my indispensable assistant, Sue Totten. Sue prepared charts for SAIC's estimating courses, my conference presentations, and technical reports. She formatted numerous drafts of this book and prepared many of the original line drawings. She suggested improvements to the book and to our processes. Sue maintained configuration control over the many drafts of courses, papers, and book chapters. She worked late on many days, and asked what she could do next to help. She acted as my alter ego, handling many routine duties so I had more time to write. Throughout the entire ordeal, Sue retained her sense of humor. (At one point, I thought I would have to rename the book Unser Kampf .) Sue, I could not have done it without you! (c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved. Excerpted from Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes by Richard Stutzke All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.