The cost component is vital to the success of any software project. Most of the failure projects attribute themselves to incorrect cost estimates and budget allocations. Many software projects fail not because there is no market, but because the cost of creating the software far outstrips any profit. Exponential costs of change exacerbate this problem. Software processes are designed to manage these costs; however, it is crucial that an organization understands how and when the costs of creating software will outstrip the worth of a product.
Following are the two target areas related to software cost estimation:
1. Arrangement of the phases of a software project in the order of increasing variance, where variance is the difference between cost estimated for the phase and the actual cost incurred in that phase.
2. For each phase of the project, what are the top three/five reasons that magnify the variance?
Let us establish that we are only considering projects with the following characteristics:
1- Waterfall Approach
2- Five traditional phases of Requirement Analysis, Design, Code, Testing, Implementation
I would appreciate if you guys can share your experiences regarding the above mentioned two target areas. Based on the initial feedback I would like to conduct a survey.
Thanking in advance