What you'll learn

How do you make reasonable estimates and practical schedules for your software development projects? In this course, Best Practices for Software Project Estimation, you’ll learn to produce realistic time-and-effort estimates and build usable schedules that reflect business reality, complexity, and constraints. First, you’ll explore “ideal time” vs. “elapsed time”, and how that knowledge will provide you with the foundation for building realistic estimates. Next, you’ll discover how to perform bottom-up estimating by using a work breakdown structure (WBS) and how to use Agile-style relative sizing such as story points and planning poker to build estimates. Finally, you’ll learn how to translate raw estimates into a usable traditional schedule with resource loading, and how to translate raw estimates into a usable Agile/Sprint schedule by using velocity. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge of estimating and scheduling software projects needed to work effectively with business and technical teams to complete your projects on time and within budget