What is Software Estimation? — UK Software Development Guide
Direct Answer
Software estimation is the process of predicting the time, cost, and resources required to build a software system or feature. Common estimation techniques include: Story Points with velocity (agile), Function Point Analysis (FPA), COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model), Three-Point Estimation (optimistic, most likely, pessimistic), and expert judgment (experienced developers estimating based on similar past work).
Software-estimation in the UK
Software estimation is central to UK fixed-price contract integrity. ClickMasters' estimation process: Technical Discovery produces a user story backlog, each story is estimated in story points using planning poker, historical velocity (from similar past projects) converts story points to weeks, and a contingency (typically 15–20%) is added for unknown unknowns. Transparency about estimation uncertainty is a UK commercial best practice — ClickMasters presents estimates as ranges (e.g., "10–14 weeks") rather than false precision. The most common cause of UK software project overruns: poor initial estimation, scope changes without formal change requests, and underestimating integration complexity.
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