As you create your budget and cost estimates, make sure you document HOW you got your numbers. Any strategies used Any assumptions made Your entire range – from pessimistic to optimistic What pessimistic MEANS (what could go wrong) This is the beginning of what is known in project management circles as the Risk Register. Known […]
Finding the Numbers
So where do you find the numbers you need to make your cost estimates? Historical and Organizational Information Hopefully, your organization keeps records of all of its previous projects and how much they cost. Find the ones most similar to your project. The more similar the project to the one you are proposing, the more […]
Cost Estimations for Your Plans
I talked a little bit in a previous post about Calculating Opportunity Costs. If you are asked to put together more numbers, there are a few techniques available out of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (fondly known as the PMBOK) that you may find useful. Analogous Estimating Using the cost of similar projects to […]
Calculating Opportunity Costs
We talked a little bit about risk in the last post. In highly risk and change averse cultures, you want to make sure you have a solid argument for why you want to make the changes you wish to make. For executive-types, they want to see numbers. Return on Investment. Whether what you are proposing […]