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TABLE 3-1. Wideband Delphi script (continued)
Name Wideband Delphi script
Alternative Paths 1. During Step 1, if the team determines that there is not enough information known about the
project to perform an estimate, the script ends. Before the script can be started again, the
project manager must document the missing information by creating or modifying the
vision and scope document (see Chapter 2).
2. During either Step 1 or 3, if the team determines that there are outstanding issues that must
be resolved before the estimate can be made, they agree upon a plan to resolve the issues
and the script ends.
Exit Criteria The script ends after the team has either generated a set of estimates or has agreed upon a
plan to resolve the outstanding issues.

Choosing the team
Picking a qualified team is an important part of generating accurate estimates. Each team
member must be willing to make an effort to estimate each task honestly, and should be
comfortable working with the rest of the team. Estimation sessions can get heated; a team
that already has friction will find that it runs into many disagreements that are difficult to
resolve. The free flow of information is essential, and the project manager should choose a
group of people who work well together. The estimators should all be knowledgeable
enough about the organization’s needs and past engineering projects (preferably similar to
the one being estimated) to make educated estimates.
The moderator should be familiar with the Delphi process, but should not have a stake in
the outcome of the session, if possible. Project managers are sometimes tempted to fill the
moderator role, but this should be avoided (if at all possible) because the project manager
should ideally be part of the estimation team. This is because the PM needs to take an
active role in the discussion of the assumptions. She usually has a perspective on the
project priorities that some of the engineers, stakeholders, and users do not see at first.

The role of the moderator is to listen to the discussion, ask open-ended questions, chal-
lenge the team to address issues, and ensure that everyone on the team is contributing.
The moderator may estimate, but if he does, it is important that he remain unbiased by
the team’s estimates. A well-chosen team will allow the moderator to sit out on the esti-
mation tasks and remain neutral and open-minded during the discussion.

The project manager should choose the team, and it should include people that she is
comfortable working with. The team should include representatives from as many areas of
the development team as possible: managers, developers, designers, architects, QA engi-
neers, requirements analysts, technical writers, etc. Most importantly, each of the team
members should have a stake in the plan, meaning that his goal is to establish a plan
which he can agree to and live with. This allows the Delphi process to serve as an impor-
tant tool for gaining the engineering team’s support for the project plan, giving all
involved a feeling of ownership of the estimates on which it is based.

Finally, one or more observers—selected stakeholders, users, and managers—should be
encouraged to attend the meeting. The reason that the observers are important is that they

ESTIMATION 41