Estimating software development schedules and costs
Richard E. Merwin · 1972
Estimates of large scale software development schedules and associated costs have had a history of being wrong more than right. The landscape is littered with examples of such projects, including some design automation systems, which were over a year late in becoming operational and costing millions of dollars more than estimated. There are a number of reasons for this situation including poorly stated system requirements, shortage of personnel capable of managing large scale software developments, and a tendency to try and solve system problems late in the development cycle by taking advantage of the inherent flexibility of the general purpose computer.