I've made a comment some minutes ago about the difference between estimates and plans. Making the client aware of the difference may be useful. However, it's a

I've made a comment some minutes ago about the difference between estimates and plans. Making the client aware of the difference may be useful. However, it's also a fact that most clients ask for being deceived. I've seen that scene over and over: Company A presents a fairly detailed 3-months plan while Company B salesperson says that the project is easy and they will deliver it in 1 month. Company B wins the project most of the time, only to (possibly) deliver it in 6 months or so. Some clients even train their employees to avoid such traps, making them informed of estimation techniques and encouraging them to use plain good sense, but those are exceptions. Software projects would be way less painful if clients, and not only software development companies, worried more about achieving higher levels of maturity.