Can you tell me, accurately and without guessing, how good your estimates are, or have been in the past? Probably not. The only way to know this is to compare them against the actual values in the end.
Sometimes it’s not that easy to know how much it actually cost to deliver particular requirements. It’s even more difficult to know the actuals if the set of requirements was large to begin with.
It strongly depends on the company, as some businesses are not necessarily interested in the true performance of the estimator, so this isn’t something that is kept track of. Additionally, there aren’t any tools out there that can help you compare estimates vs actuals – or the ones that do exist are missing some key features. This means that in order to make such comparisons, you need to put in some manual labour.
And finally, these comparisons are hard simply because estimates often end up breaking up into different sets of tasks. It’s difficult to keep track of what tasks were related to what part of your estimation.
Nevertheless, it is possible to keep track of actuals and tie them with the original estimations. It requires self discipline and engagement. The benefit of having this information is extremely valuable, though often underrated.
These numbers, while interesting even on their own, give you powerful insights and control of the estimation process. In the long run, they’ll help you improve your project management, the relationship with your clients, and even the financial performance of the business.
Piotr Pozniak