Thoughts on Project Estimation: The Star, the Planet, and the Habitable Zone

2019-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Whenever we are working on a feature, planning a milestone or a project, there is always a discussion about the cost and time needed. In most cases there are three main parties involved: the client, the manager, and the programmer(s). Let’s use the analogy of a star system, where the client is the star everything orbits around, the project is the planet, and the programmers are the biosphere. The closer we are to the star, the closer we are to the exact requests of the client.

Everything orbits around the star (the client), whose activity produces the energy, ensuring that there is any planet at all. If the planet (the project) is too close to the star, it will burn out quickly and evaporate. But if the planet is too far away, the relationship between the star and the planet, or the client and the project (from our perspective) will freeze out. There is a so-called habitable zone, where the planet, or the project can benefit of the energy of the star.

First the habitable zone should be found. This is a concept of the project which is close enough to the client’s desires, but still achievable, so biosphere can coexist with the star system, shaping the planet.

Whenever we create an estimation, we need to differentiate parts of the problem into two main categories. The first category is the subset of the problem where we can accurately foresee what is to be done and we can accurately estimate the needed time. The second category is the subset for problems where we have open questions. It’s good to offer the client alternatives: we could do a vague estimation for the problems where we have open questions, or we can do research to gather further knowledge and increase the subset of problems where we foresee the solution. In general:

T = (T(Known) + T(Unknown) + T(Unforeseen)) * HR

T(Known) is the total time we estimate for the problems for which we mostly already know the solution. T(Unknown) is the total time we estimate for problems we have open questions about, the answer of which directly affects the time we need. T(Unforeseen) is the total time to work on problems we cannot foresee before starting the project. HR is the Habitable Ratio we multiply the time by. For example, if HR = 1.3, then we estimate the time of the project to be 30% higher than what we think it’ll take. The reason we need such a ratio is that T(Unknown) and T(Unforeseen) in reality can be much higher than our estimation. If we estimate a time to the client which is around or less than the time we think we can successfully finish our work, then the work will potentially be a stressful rush. If we take longer than the estimation, we lose our hard earned reputation. In this case we will either be at the edge of the habitable zone towards the star, or even between the star and the habitable zone. It is the perfect recipe to burn out quickly.

On the other hand, if we exaggerate T, the client will think that costs will get out of control. In this case, even though we can surely fulfill the estimation, we are outside of the habitable zone. We are too far from the star, and will not get enough energy from our star to enable a biosphere to live on the planet.

So, the rules we would like to adhere to are:

Make a reliable estimation.
Be open when you cannot achieve the precision you would like for the estimation.
Give alternatives when something takes too much energy, if possible.
Pleasantly surprise the client by completing the work before the deadline, both in terms of agreed hours and end date, whenever we are able to.
Be detailed about what and how was done, so if the work requires more time than we thought the client will understand the reason.

Communication is often not counted into the estimation and there could be other things we forget. Make sure to think about what you’re forgetting before you send an estimation. Asking colleagues for review can help you with your blind spots.

Expert Help with Your SaaS System

2018-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

Are you thinking about starting a new website and using BigCommerce, Shopify, or WooCommerce? The software-as-a-service offerings on the market today can help you get a great-looking, low-cost ecommerce website up and running quickly, but you may need more help than you first expect.

In order to get the most out of your site, ecommerce consultants like us at End Point can guide you through setup, customize your site to fit your brand, manage all of your technical requirements, and help drive traffic to your site. This post is an overview of services we offer to clients looking for a SaaS solution.

Select the Right Vendor

Working with an expert consultant can help you make the right choices from the start. Sometimes knowing the level of customization that your project requires can be a real challenge. End Point has experience with everything from out-of-the-box SaaS platforms to large-scale, custom software developments—we take time to understand your requirements and guide you to the perfect solution for your business.

Custom Design

Most SaaS offerings include ready-to-use, beautiful design templates, but you’ll often find that they require some tweaking. We can customize your design so that it fits perfectly with the look and feel of your brand, without the time and expense of going through the design process from scratch.

Working with an ecommerce consultant that has experience with user behavior, site navigation, and business workflows can help you develop the best way to organize your pages and products. With improved navigation, we can ensure that your users are finding what they’re looking for and getting where they’re going quickly and seamlessly.

Customizing Your Store

Customizing your store to work with your specific needs, like shipping integrations, 3rd party apps, and APIs can be a challenge. End Point can help you research the solutions already in place, or build custom solutions for your site.

Email Setup

End Point can help you set up your email on your desktop or in the cloud, and can help you configure and maintain all of your in-house email needs.

DNS and Domain Names

End Point has DevOps experts who can make sure everything with your domain name and DNS changes is handled quickly and correctly during the setup or migration of your site from one provider to another.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A solid search engine optimization strategy is critical to the success of your website, and therefore critical to the success of your business. A high Google ranking means more page views—and more conversions. At End Point, we design and build with SEO in mind from the start to help you get the most value from your online presence.

Payments and Merchants

End Point has experience with many major merchant vendors. We can help you find the right merchant, be it PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, Braintree, etc. We can make sure that payments are set up, tested, and integrated into your business cash flow. We also have experience with PCI compliance and can help you step through an evaluation or mitigation process and get your system in tip-top shape.

Project Management

Are you trying to wrangle a team of people? Your old vendor and your new one? Do you need help in managing the project? Our project managers are here to help you meet your business goals and get to the finish line on time and within budget.

System Migrations

Working with an expert consultant can really help when you are moving from one system to another. We have customizable data export and import scripts and many automated tools to move your content to your new platform and can save you hours of moving products and pages by hand.

Summary

Working with a consultant agency can really give your SaaS project the professional edge you’ll need to compete in today’s ecommerce market. We offer consulting packages to fit your budget and the depth of services that you need. Talk to us today about how we could help get your project off the ground.

(Jon Allen co-authored this article.)