Basic Software Estimation Graphs

Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art

Let’s face it, everyone fails at software estimation including yours truly. It’s probably the least understood part of software development simply because the uncertainties in

This post will not deal with software estimation directly. Instead, it will show you the graphs related to software estimation that you should be familiar with. All of these graphs come from Steve McConnell‘s wonderful book Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art; the first group of graphs were copy-pasted from the free Construx presentations while the rest of the graphs were drafted using MS Paint.

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A Consideration in Introducting Tools

learning curve

While I was going through Rapid Development looking for the backhoe story for the previous post, I came across the graph above.

Looks familiar, huh?

It’s practically the same productivity-to-time graph as the one in the Satir Change Model.

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Tools and Training

backhoe

No Silver Bullet tells us to be skeptical about claims of tools that can provide drastic improvements in productivity. What we can instead hope for from productivity tools are minor, yet still significant, improvements.

However, both lowering our expectations and going with proven technologies aren’t enough to receive productivity benefits when introducing a new tool. Many companies still fail because of a certain classic mistake: Lack of Training.

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No Silver Bullet

werewolf

Aside from Brooks’s Law, Fred Brooks is also famous for another so-called “law” in software engineering: the No Silver Bullet argument.

There is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order of magnitude [tenfold] improvement within a decade in productivity, in reliability, in simplicity.

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Classic Internet Debate: Sub vs Dub

Last night when I was sucked into browsing TV Tropes, I came across one of the classic debates in the Internet: Subbing vs. Dubbing.

I particularly like this debate not only because it’s pretty easy to win at, it’s also a great opportunity to educate people about the so-called “anime subculture”.

My modus operandi was simple: I choose to defend dubbing in the face of hordes of rabid anime fans.

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