IT
Project Estimation: A Practical Guide
to the Costing of Software
by Paul Coombs
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
2003
184 pp., illus. 92 b/w, plus CD-ROM. Paper,
£30.00
ISBN 0-521-53285-X.
Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher
Saginaw Valley State University, University
Center MI 48710 USA
mosher@svsu.edu
Though intended for software engineers
in an industrial setting, this book is
of use to those of us who do interactive
artwork, especially if it can sometimes
be a long-term project or one that involves
multiple programmers. The hypothetical
project could be a website-as-artwork;
it might be a media-rich multimedia project,
or a heavily visual hypertext. It might
even be an interactive environment where
sensors react to the presence of participants
with a series of events; Steven Wilson
of San Francisco is one distinguished
artist who develops complex projects in
this manner that come to mind.
An artist using computers quickly realizes
the benefit of a methodical development
process. Yet there is also the part that
precedes it, the estimate, which if sufficiently
accurate can secure the required funds
to carry the project to fruition. If inaccurate,
the project can turn into a nightmare.
This book should be consulted as a guide
to project estimation and figuring out
just what the project might cost.
Software engineer Paul Coombs, now a consultant,
has developed software for Reuters, the
BBC, EMI, London Underground, British
Airways, and the systems developer Logica,
has written this guide to project estimation.
Coombscheerful and slightly
flippant at timesannounces
over the course of the book a dozen Blindingly
Obvious Rules of Estimation, and then
provides an exegesis of each rule. Coombs
continually reminds the reader to realize
that it's an estimation that the
engineer is called upon to provide. It
can approach, but probably never attain,
one hundred per cent accuracy.
The reader is given a process of detailed
project planning to determine the resource
dependencies of the project's individual
tasks. The book discusses risks and building
in contingencies to deal with them, the
costs of staff and capital, and of anticipating
cash flow and prices. Attention is then
given to reviewing the estimates, maintaining
the model that has been constructed, and
finally evaluating its success. There
follows a believable case study, instructions
for using the cost model template on the
CD-ROM that comes in the book's back cover,
and various other resources and models
that may be of use to the reader.
This reviewer's sole complaint about IT
Project Estimation is that the accompanying
CD-ROM, which contains an estimating template
built in Microsoft Excel, runs only under
Windows. This prevents its use by the
Macintosh owners among the many technological
artists who might find this book useful
and valuable.