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I doubt a CTO would want to document that they are lying to customers on estimates.
by peteradio 4y ago
I doubt a CTO would want to document that they are lying to customers on estimates.
- Jensson 4y agoYeah, instead they just say "software estimates are totally impossible to make! We can't help it!". It is easy to make relatively accurate estimates if you want them, but there is very little demand for accurate estimates, managers wants overly optimistic estimates because those are easier to sell.
- alkonaut 4y agoEstimation is doable statistically. You can estimate 100 small things with reasonable accuracy, if you work in familiar terrain. That's why scrum an similar tend to work reasonably well for seeing if you are going to hit some iteration deadline etc. BUT you can't estimate a huge software project up front, because you can't break it into 100 small things up front and it's not usually not familiar terrain before it started. You might be forced to give an estimate up front in order to get a deal, but it's all business theater.
- alkonaut 4y agoThen I'd be fine with clear communication among all senior executives, so that HIS boss in turn doesn't believe the team is going to deliver the paper goal, and later gold the CTO to it. If there are two different sets of requirements (Paper requirements and actual requirements) then it's pretty important that the whole C-suite agrees what the team will be held to delivering. Otherwise you are going to see the CEO breathing down the neck of the CTO once the project fails to meet the paper goals. Next thing you know, it's "pizza night" for the team.