Refine Your Estimation Practices With Top-Down Allocations

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As a portfolio manager, you’re expected to size projects for approval and intake before they have sufficient definition.
The consequences of initial sizing are felt throughout the project lifecycle.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Your organization lacks strong organizational memory upon which assumptions and estimates can be made.
Definition is at a minimum not validated, untested, and is likely incomplete. It has the potential to be dangerously misleading.

Impact and Result

Build project history and make more educated estimates – Projects usually start with a “ROM” or t-shirt size estimate, but if your estimates are consistently off, then it’s time to shift the scale.
Plan ahead – Projects face risks; similar projects face similar risks. Provide sponsors with estimates that account for as many risks as possible, so that if something goes wrong you have a plan to make it right.
Store and strengthen organizational memory – Each project is rich with lessons that can inform your next project to make it more effective and efficient, and ultimately help to avoid committing the same failures over and over again. Develop a process to catalogue project history and all of the failures and successes associated with those projects.

Refine Your Estimation Practices With Top-Down Allocations Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should improve your estimation practices, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

Refine Your Estimation Practices With Top-Down Allocations – Executive Brief

1. Build organizational memory to inform early estimates

Analyze your project history to identify and fill gaps in your estimation practices.

2. Develop and refine a reliable estimate with top-down allocations

Allocate time across project phases to validate and refine estimates and estimate assumptions.

3. Implement a new estimation process

Implement a lessons learned process to provide transparency to your sponsors and confidence to your teams.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

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