Tools and resources for cost and schedule estimating, when you here estimates are hard, we're bad at estimating, estimates are a waste, estimates are misused. All those statements are fallacies. Learn first...
There is NO means of making credible decisions in the presence of uncertainty without first estimating the outcome of that decision.
This is a foundational principle of microeconomics of probabilistic decision making.
To suggest you can make such a decision without estimates requires ignoring this principle.
Then look into how estimates are made with guidance from professional societies and tools used by those professional estimators
Organizations and Resources
- iceaaonline.com International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association
- http://www.ndia.org National Defense Industry Association
- http://web.aacei.org Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering
- http://www.mycpm.org College of Performance Management
- http://www.psmsc.com Practical Software & Systems Measurement – Objective Information for Decision Makers
- http://www.aspenational.org American Society of Professional Estimators
- www.isbsg.org International Software Benchmarking Standards Group
- http://nesma.org/ Nederlandse Software Metrieken Association
- http://www.qpmg.com/benchmarking_sds.html Q/P Management Group
- Bench Marking Guide for Software Development and Maintenance
- The Software Development Productivity Benchmarking Guide
- gao.gov/products/GAO-09-3SP GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide
- http://www.dpo.it/smef.htm Software Measurement European Forum
- https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-cost-estimating-handbook-ceh NASA Cost Estimating Handbook
Tools
- https://www.scopemaster.com A natural language processes estimating tool using Function Point database
- http://galorath.com SEER Cost Estimating Tools
- http://www.pricesystems.com Price Systems Cost Estimating
- http://www.qsm.com Cost Estimating Tools
- http://www.namcook.com/ Capers Jones Cost Estimating tools and processes
- http://www.dpo.it/smef.htm Software Measurement European Forum
- http://www.construx.com/Resources/Construx_Estimate/ Steve McConnell's Agile estimating tool
And the shortlist is estimating research papers, presentations, and books
There are no principles of Managerial Finance, Probabilistic Decision-Making, or Microeconomics of software development - in the presence of reducible and irreducible uncertainty, that creates risk - by which you can make a Credible decision, which using scarce resources, while spending other people's money with Estimating the outcomes of that decision and its impact on the Probability of Success of the project.
