Estimation process for software development

[abhijit]

How many of you actually participate in the estimation process? Are all of your estimations based on gut-feeling? Do you use any templates for estimation purposes?

Please guide me in preparing an estimation for a project that is to be migrated to VB .NET from VB 6.0

What kind of inputs do you need? I need an efforts based estimate.

[szlamany]

That is an extremely difficult task.

I've used "number of maintenance screens"+"number of reports"+"number of major-business rules/calc" and lost my shirt.

Even gut-feeling doesn't work out (at least for the past 25 years or so).

See this post:

Agile methodologies

and look at the link for "Incrementalist and Completionists".

I believe there is about to be a fundamental shift in how us poor programmers cost out jobs, so that we don't keep taking the risk when the business managers are looking to take no risk at all.

[abhijit]

This is what I am planning to do now.

I plan to upgrade one of the forms in my former application and measure the time taken for it. I will make sure that the form is fully workable. Once I have got this, then I plan to extrapolate to the other forms.

I was looking at FP estimation and it seems to be a really complex process for me.

I hope this works, if it doesn't HELP ME GOD.