PMcrunch

The PMBOK specifies that there is a process for Activity and Resource Estimating. There are a variety of nuances to this process and it is very important to a project’s success that project team members have the skills to produce accurate estimates.

Activity Estimating

The estimating process involves estimating which activities need to be performed and what quantity.  For example, knowing that someone must build database tables is an important fact.  It is also an important fact that they must build a certain number of database tables.  If you could estimate how long it would take to build one table and simply multiply by the number of tables required, and this would seem to be very helpful to coming up with a valid estimate on how long it would take to build all the tables in this database.  However, there is much more to it than this.

Resource Estimating

Knowing what resources you have has a great deal to do with the duration estimates for the task.  In the case of creating database tables it is helpful to know the following:

1. Who is going to do the task, or at least which individuals are available on your team or as outside resources? 
2. What software or tool are you going to use.  Some software is very complex and perhaps not as friendly or easy to use where as other software might be very easy and make a particular task such a building a database table much easier.
3. What resources from past projects do you have?  This can be influential in building the database if there are similar databases that have been developed and can be leveraged as examples.
4. Are there other resource availability constraints? Could there be network issues to consider?  Any server availability issues? 
5. Could this be a small enough task that the database expert you want will need to squeeze it into his busy schedule?  Or is it otherwise a full-time effort for someone for a period?

Combining Activities and Resources

True accurate estimates for activities and resources can really only be completed once the various alternatives have been considered.  Only after the activities have been broken down into digestible chunks can they be really studied in detail, and only then can the analysis of alternatives be examined.  Only once the analysis of alternatives has been concluded and the resources clearly identified and locked down, can a truly accurate estimate be achieved.

There certainly is a caveat that all resources – people or equipment – are not always known but an accurate estimate can still be achieved.  However, what is important is to understand if you can get comfortable with at least a fairly tight estimated range, and roughly who and what might be required as resources.

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John Reiling, PMP

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