A Comparative Analysis of Popular Software Effort Estimation Techniques

Software effort and time estimation has always been one of the biggest challenges for the software project managers around the world. Accurate effort estimation plays a significant role in the success of a project. The aim of this study is to identify the best software effort estimation technique among the popular software estimation techniques being used in Pakistani software houses employing agile methodologies. An online survey performed in this study has shown that the two most widely-used effort estimation techniques in Pakistan are Expert Judgment and Planning Poker. To determine which of these two effort estimation techniques gives better estimates, a controlled experiment involving two groups of professionals was performed. In one group, individual estimators used Expert Judgment while in the other group a team of estimators used Planning Poker to estimate the effort of real-life projects. Results of the comparison of these effort estimates with actual effort values have shown that the estimates obtained through Planning Poker appear to be more accurate than the estimates obtained through Expert Judgement. This finding is expected to be beneficial for professionals involved in managing software projects.