Why Software Estimations Are Always Wrong

Modern Software Engineering October 11, 2023
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Modern Software Engineering is where good developers come to become great. Learn about the most important techniques in software development, from some of the most influential speakers in the software industry. Build better software, faster, and become the best software engineer you can be. Hosted by Dave Farley, Trisha Gee, Steve Smith, Emily Bache, Kevlin Henney & Kent Beck. Subscribe for tips, tricks, comments on topical matters in the software development industry and MORE to help you become a great programmer.

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Software estimation is always wrong, so how can we do it better? Estimating software, or anything else, is always an exercise in guesswork and predicting the future, but for software, it is often even more difficult than for some other things because the very nature of software means that we are always working on something new, that we have done exactly the same before. The very common mistake then when the estimates are wrong is to aim to increase the precision of the estimate this is completely the wrong thing to do. So what should we do instead? In this episode software engineer and author of best-selling books “Continuous Delivery” and “Modern Software Engineering", Dave Farley, explores the vexing problem of estimation, why it is so problematic, and what we can do to increase the usefulness of our estimates. Dave also presents a simple model that can help you to estimate your ideas more accurately, by avoiding the trap of attempting to be too precise. - ⭐ PATREON: Join the Continuous Delivery community and access extra perks & content! JOIN HERE and GET 15% OFF WHEN YOU SIGN UP FOR AN ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP ➡️ https://bit.ly/ContinuousDeliveryPatreon - 👕 T-SHIRTS: A fan of the T-shirts I wear in my videos? Grab your own, at reduced prices EXCLUSIVE TO CONTINUOUS DELIVERY FOLLOWERS! Get money off the already reasonably priced t-shirts! 🔗 Check out their collection HERE: ➡️ https://bit.ly/3vTkWy3 🚨 DON'T FORGET TO USE THIS DISCOUNT CODE: ContinuousDelivery - 🖇 LINKS: Error Bars”, Wikipedia ➡️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_bar “Why Bother Quantifying the Cost of Delay?” ➡️ https://blackswanfarming.com/why-bother-quantifying-the-cost-of-delay/ “How to Estimate Software Development Time” ➡️ https://youtu.be/v21jg8wb1eU - BOOKS: 📖 Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules, by Steve McConnell ➡️ https://amzn.to/38OKgtP 📖 Dave’s NEW BOOK "Modern Software Engineering" is available as paperback, or kindle here ➡️ https://amzn.to/3DwdwT3 and NOW as an AUDIOBOOK available on iTunes, Amazon and Audible. 📖 The original, award-winning "Continuous Delivery" book by Dave Farley and Jez Humble ➡️ https://amzn.to/2WxRYmx 📖 "Continuous Delivery Pipelines" by Dave Farley Paperback ➡️ https://amzn.to/3gIULlA ebook version ➡️ https://leanpub.com/cd-pipelines NOTE: If you click on one of the Amazon Affiliate links and buy the book, Continuous Delivery Ltd. will get a small fee for the recommendation with NO increase in cost to you. - CHANNEL SPONSORS: Equal Experts is a product software development consultancy with a network of over 1,000 experienced technology consultants globally. They increase the pace of innovation by using modern software engineering practices that embrace Continuous Delivery, Security, and Operability from the outset ➡️ https://bit.ly/3ASy8n0 Tricentis is an AI-powered platform helping you to deliver digital innovation faster and with less risk by providing a fundamentally better approach to test automation. Discover the power of continuous testing with Tricentis. ➡️ https://bit.ly/TricentisCD TransFICC provides low-latency connectivity, automated trading workflows and e-trading systems for Fixed Income and Derivatives. TransFICC resolves the issue of market fragmentation by providing banks and asset managers with a unified low-latency, robust and scalable API, which provides connectivity to multiple trading venues while supporting numerous complex workflows across asset classes such as Rates and Credit Bonds, Repos, Mortgage-Backed Securities and Interest Rate Swaps ➡️ https://transficc.com #softwareengineer #software #developer #noestimates

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