Innovative software projects are not ditch digging
AAAAAMEN BROTHER!
I always make a mental measurement about the management I'm dealing with when they expect definition and design to be estimated work. It's not ditch digging fellas. It's TIMEBOXED work, and that's not the same thing.
We're going to timebox requirements & design at X weeks. At some point prior to the end of that, we're going to take a reading to see if we're going to be done enough to proceed by the end of the timebox. If not, look for a change notice from me.
And when I do give you that estimate of the dev work, it's going to come as a range, not a precise number out 4 decimal places. It's also going to come with some clarifying info like the confidence level behind the numbers so you can share our security or uncertainty about the whole deal. That confidence level is going to tie directly to the +/- variation I'll include as risk reserve in the range I gave you.
Most project bureaucrats don't really "get" project management to start with and want everything to work like the recipe for jello. They get very consternated when real life doesn't work out so neatly, and can't project manage their way out of a paper bag because there's no script to follow.
