Comments on How to estimate time of completion while developing an electronic product?
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How to estimate time of completion while developing an electronic product?
I don't know whether this question is on-topic or not but answering this helps a lot of future electronics entrepreneurs like me understand how the product design and development time estimation takes place.
Suppose a customer approaches me and gives a project with his specifications(let us say a DC-DC converter or a Home automation System etc.). Now how should I estimate the design time, development time, test/debugging time and give him a report that by this time approximately I can handover the project?
As far as I know there are two types of products-
- The product which is already present in the market and customer comes to me for price optimization or some different specifications.
- A complete new project never been in the market.
So time varies for each one above, how to estimate time and what are all the factors to consider?
There is no easy answer to time-estimation. Experience is essential, but even for experienced people it's never easy. …
3y ago
First, consider the usual triple-constraints often discussed in project management theory: time, cost, quality (choose 2 …
3y ago
First of all, it depends on how much work the customer has done in advance. Do they have a proper spec? Do they at least …
3y ago
I'm actually an algorithmic engineer, not an electronic engineer. But your question is extremely general, and valid for …
3y ago
In my 15 yrs of intense deadline R&D for new state-of-the-art design in my 45yrs experience, estimation of time is inver …
3y ago
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First, consider the usual triple-constraints often discussed in project management theory: time, cost, quality (choose 2):
- You can have it fast and cheap, but not high-quality;
- You can have it fast and high-quality, but not cheap;
- You can have it high-quality and cheap, but not fast.
Next, you need to allocate some time for a complete and thorough understanding of the prospective client's requirements. It is very easy to go down the wrong track if something vitally important to the client is either absent from, or misrepresented in, the specification. Requirements engineering (RE) is its own discipline and takes both product knowledge and managerial skill.
Third, you need to define a complete statement of work. If the prospective client is satisfied with a schematic and some simulation work to prove a concept, it will take significantly less time that it would to go through a traditional waterfall development process with multiple phase gates, physical product construction, debugging and qualification, external lab certification and production release.
Finally, once the statement of work is agreed upon, you must determine time and cost estimates for each of the major tasks in the statement of work. This is often the domain of professional project management teams with technical and operations inputs considered as needed. How to estimate these times and costs comes from past experience - how long previous efforts took, what industry "norms" are, how competitors perform, plus the overall workload and capabilities of your organization.
Once all this is complete, you have your initial schedule. Now you just need to deliver!
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