When planning a new project, someone asks a question: “And where are any actual data from our previous projects?” Also, another question may arise: “What is the relationship between the plan and the measurement data?” The plan is useful only if it diverges from reality by no more than +/- 20%. The measurement data are useful only if they are applicable to a project whose conditions are similar to those of the previous project when these data were received.
Imagine that you own a small ocean yacht and are going to sail from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to the Bahamas. You would have to pick up maps of the Atlantic coast, which display sea routes, depths, ports and lighthouses. You would need to choose a route and calculate the travel time, taking into account the speed of the yacht and any speed limits specified in the navigation charts. When planning, it is necessary to perform a number of calculations, taking into account the rate at which various supplies are used. You should decide how many people you will take along on a trip to these destinations. Intermediate results, such as the number of travel days, determine the number of breakfast, lunch or dinner portions that will be required to feed those people present on the vessel. Based on this plan, you will reserve the appropriate amount of fuel, drinking water, food and other supplies. This information is reflected in the navigation and food plans, in the ship’s declaration and route map.
Ecommerce testing allows web designers to regularly check their e-commerce sites so that to retain customers and improve sales.
In the sea, the captain of the yacht will check with the navigation plan, recording such measurement data as speed and current heading. Based on this data, he calculates the time when you should start looking for a specific port or beacon (seamark). The purpose of this actual measurement data set is to associate the navigation plan with known route points. By tracking these measurement data and comparing it with control points, the captain can answer the most typical questions, such as “Have not we lost direction?” or “Are we behind the schedule?”.
With regard to software development projects, the planning process consists of combining the selected development life cycle and its stages (navigation maps and route), a set of functional requirements (the length of the journey in miles), the standards for the number of lines of code that must be created per business hour (the specific speed of the yacht, expressed in miles / h), the schedule of staff loading by months (route) and intermediate project completion dates (beacons and ports).
