Feed: Dan Galorath on Estimating Blog - AggScore: 71.8

Using Trends In Variance To Understand Trends in Risk

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I always prefer leading indicators to lagging ones.  When our CFO comes in at the end of April, for instance, and tells me how we performed through March I am always interested to know but… I often say, “What do I do with this information–it is now ancient history.” The paper “The Canary in the Mineshaft: [...] Related posts:

1. Risk Analysis & Conference In the Netherlands I spent this week with our international group… at two...
2. Estimating Project Risk Using Scenarios (Without Monte Carlo) I was at a costing syposium today where Paul Garvey...
3. Douglas Hubbard on Pushing The Boundary In Risk Management If you follow my ramblings you know I am a...

Typical Agile Development Lifecycle

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I ran across this nice graphic of an agile lifecycle produced by Galorath’s David Dewitt.  I thought it was clear in its presentation of the lifecycle and how estimation and planning fit in. I am often surprised when speaking to people who say, “We don’t need estimation or planning any longer because we are agile.”  [...] Related posts:

1. Estimation & Agile Development… Plan and Control Agile Projects While at the IBM Rational user conference in Orlando I...
2. Agile Development Mature Scrum Thanks to Tom Gilb for the article on a CMMI...
3. Peaceful Coexistence of Agile Development and CMMI In the SEI paper “CMMI or Agile: Why Not Embrace...

IT Risk Management Through Process, Estimation and Measurement

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I had the privilege of presenting “IT Risk Management Through Process, Estimation and Measurement” at the Manila ITMPI conference on the topic of IT risk management.  There was a large, savvy audience, eager to further explore this topic.  As we have seen in other countries, many don’t look at estimation, planning, measurement, and control as [...] Related posts:

1. Estimation Plus Process and Measurement Rigor Yields More Successful Projects: SEER and Tracer It has been rewarding working with the Computer Aid  (CAI)...
2. Software Sizing, Estimation, Risk Management Book Available in Japanese I received copies of the book Software Sizing, Estimation, and...
3. Viable Software Estimation Modeling: A Key Component Of Software Risk Management I spoke with someone recently who explained the reason they...

MOOSE Metric: IT Cost Excluding New IT Investments

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MOOSE is defined by Forrester as the spending to Maintain and Operate the IT Organization, Systems, and Equipment (MOOSE) as a percentage of revenues.  One of the difficulties of benchmarking overall IT spending is that IT spending may be providing a positive ROI to the business:  thus more total IT spending may signify a company [...] Related posts:

1. DoD CIO Approves Open Source Software.. But Beware of Low Cost Assumptions The DoD CIO’s office clarified its position on open source...

Price To Win: What It Is And When Estimation Gets Involved

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I am continually amazed at the wide variety of opinions about what Price-To-Win is and who plays what role in Price-To-Win. I have spoken to some customers that are offended by the term Price-To-Win.  They hear it as “trick the customer to win.”  Of course that is not what price-to-win is all about.  Price-to-Win is [...] Related posts:

1. Price-To-Win Costing Roles and Responsibilities Step 1: Gather market intelligence: Generally the Senior Price-To-Win cost...
2. Better Products At better Margins 20 to 40% Cost Price Reduction I was so impressed with the presentation by one of...
3. New “Bid To Win” Book Available For Download Galorath’s Evin Stump and SEER customer Bill Vitaliano wrote an...

Price-To-Win Costing Roles and Responsibilities

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Step 1: Gather market intelligence: Generally the Senior Price-To-Win cost lead must actively interact with the PTW group or the direct customer. Step 2: Determine requirements and features – while this is primarily the job of the engineer/systems analyst, the cost analyst cannot simply take these parameters and run with them. Step 3: Sketch out [...] Related posts:

1. Price To Win: What It Is And When Estimation Gets Involved I am continually amazed at the wide variety of opinions...
2. Frank Vogelezang Pricing Vs Costing & Proof That IT Systems Can Be Estimated Frank Vogelezang of Ordina‘s presentation at the Galorath conference in...
3. Better Products At better Margins 20 to 40% Cost Price Reduction I was so impressed with the presentation by one of...

Estimation Maturity: When Is It OK for Me

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Galorath’s Ton Dekkers presented the talk: “Estimation Maturity: When Is It Ok For Me” at the UK measurement conference.  In this talk Ton covered the estimation process, process maturity, and when / why to take on estimation process improvement. A viable, repeatable estimation process is a cornerstone of a successful project. Thank you for reading [...] Related posts:

1. The Estimate Maturity Model Can Improve Project Success Dan Galorath briefed the Galorath estimate maturity model, a method...
2. Many Observed Incorrect Implementations of CMMI High Maturity At the CMMI conference a number of difficulties with high...
3. Book “Software Sizing, Estimation & Risk Management” Is Now Available Electronically Dan’s book, Software Sizing, Estimation & Risk Management, is now...

No Clearance for This Secret: Information Assurance is MORE Than Security

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John Keane’s presentation: Software Code Quality Checking (SCQC) No Clearance for This Secret: Information Assurance is MORE Than Security was a great learning experience for me and many in the audience of the recent CAST / Galorath seminar in the Washington DC area. The most striking conclusions from my viewpoint were: Most forms of testing [...] Related posts:

1. Quality Assurance As The Scapegoat.. And Putting Quality In The Hands of Developers I was at a best practices seminar in Toronto today....
2. Real Quality Assurance By Tom Gilb Tom is a real software visionary.. .Actually, Tom is the person...
3. Common Criteria For Security SEER estimates the costs of the various levels of the...

Understanding Cost & Affordability Using SEER as a Common Benchmark, Driven By Facts

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I was pleased to present at the joint CAST / Galorath event.  My paper, “Understanding Cost & Affordability Using SEER as a Common Benchmark, Driven By Facts,” covers use of parametrics as a common language for describing estimation problems and solutions.  It also points out how parametrics can be the basis of affordability trade-offs even [...] Related posts:

1. DoD Affordability: Implementing Directive For Ash Carter Initiative A lot of people are interested in DoD’s initiative for...
2. Bottoms Up Parametrics And Ever Increasing Details Our SEER for Manufacturing (formally SEER-DFM) and now abbreviated SEER-MFG,...
3. Data Driven Estimating Part 1: How Data Feeds The Estimation Modeling Paradigm at Galorath / SEER Lee Fischman’s article on data driven estimating follows: Summary Galorath...

The Technical Debt Monster: How to Defeat the Godzilla That Is Devouring 80% of the Federal IT Spend

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I am always fascinated by Bill Curtis’ talks, his wit, and content.  This presentation, The Technical Debt Monster: How to Defeat the Godzilla That Is Devouring 80% of the Federal IT Spend was no exception.  Bill introducted the concept of technical debt (the future cost of known defects in production software that need to be [...] Related posts:

1. $500 Billion IT Debt For Deferred Maintenance Gartner Group has reported that the IT Debt is about...
2. ScrumMaster and Techical Debt Technical debt can be reduced by ensuring “done” is a...
3. The Future of Software Analysis Measurement Webinar Featuring Bill Curtis, David Herron and Dan Galorath We have some exciting events coming up this month with...