This episode is part of a wider mini-series looking at Estimation in Software Development.

In the last episode, I talk about the short hand of a "valuable estimate" - an estimate that is desirable for the organisation asking for it.

While what constitutes "valuable" will differ from organisations to organisation, team to team, and maybe even piece of work to piece of work, I feel that it will mostly be related to acceptable level of accuracy and precision.

Accuracy is how close to the actual the estimate was - which realistically can only be assessed after the work - and precision is how broad a range is acceptable - which can be defined as part of providing the estimate - and if anything also indicates confidence in the estimate - a narrower range indicating a higher confidence, a wider range indicating a lower confidence.

In this episode I wanted to talk about how Predictability is part of this conversation

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Find this episodes show notes at: https://red-folder.com/podcasts/192

Have an idea for an episode topic, or want to see what is coming up: https://red-folder.com/podcasts/roadmap

This episode is part of a wider mini-series looking at Estimation in Software Development.

So for this episode I want to introduce the idea of a "valuable estimate" and what that may mean for you.

As I go through this series I will use the term "valuable estimate" as a short hand for some value that is desirable by the organisation asking for it.

This may seem a little vague … and to be honest, by design it is. I've spent a lot of time trying to decide what the best estimates should look like - but ultimately I feel it depends on a variety of factors - and is likely to be specific to an organisations - or maybe an initiative - or maybe even to an individual piece of work. We quickly find ourselves in the consultants stock answer of "it depends".

So while, in this episode I'll discuss to key characteristics that I believe affect the value of an estimate, the actual (or imagined) value of an estimate will be in the "eye of the beholder".

Thus the short hand of "valuable estimate"

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Find this episodes show notes at: https://red-folder.com/podcasts/191

Have an idea for an episode topic, or want to see what is coming up: https://red-folder.com/podcasts/roadmap

I started the mini-series in episode 189 by providing the following guidelines:

1. Don't invest in estimates unless there are clear demonstrable value in having them
2. Agree what a "valuable" estimate looks like - this will likely be a desirable level of accuracy and precision for an estimate
3. Provide the team with training & time to develop their estimation skills
4. Collect data on points 1-3 and regularly review if you have the balance correct

In this episode we dive into "Don't invest in estimates unless there are clear demonstrable value in having them"

Estimates are not free – and I would argue that truly valuable estimates are often prohibitively expensive to produce.

Thus in this episode, I ask the question are you getting the ROI on that investment. And more importantly – can you prove that.

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Find this episodes show notes at: https://red-folder.com/podcasts/190

Have an idea for an episode topic, or want to see what is coming up: https://red-folder.com/podcasts/roadmap