How do you set deadlines for a project?

Question

Project management

The question of operational evaluation of the project is constantly raised. Projects are mainly on various freelance exchanges. The manager hands over the project (often even without TOR or with a brief description). The project needs to be evaluated in terms of timing and number of developers. It is not always possible to spend a lot of time, because. the project may not get to us, but time has passed. Projects are different - from standard ones (shops, catalogs) to non-trivial ones (automation systems, crm, mini social networks).
In my opinion, a normal deadline can be set at least in a few days. Especially if the project is not quite trivial.
How is this dealt with in your company or you personally? Are there any evaluation algorithms? How much time are you wasting? How accurate are these dates?

Answer 1

If the project is atypical for you and requires several days for evaluation, write about it. The customer will not save a couple of days without considering all the proposals, except when the project is on fire. And if the project is on fire, you do not need to contact a non-standard project.
Also, you need to keep in mind: if the project is atypical, you most likely will not be able to make good money on it, because. other things being equal, your prime cost will be higher than that of specialized contractors. And your risks will be higher starting from the assessment stage. Therefore, do not be afraid to give non-standard projects. In a competitive market, take on an atypical project only if you want to expand your specialization and therefore are willing to take on a project with low profitability or even at a loss.

Answer 2

Add 30% to 70% additional implementation time depending on how detailed your requirements are.

Answer 3

For small jobs (less than a week), I simply multiply the deadlines by 2. Projects from a month or more insure adding to the deadlines the sum of the semicircle length from the original value and the margin of the minimum time that the team needs to make a working service or site on the knee and launch.

Answer 4

I set the real term for unhurried development and add 50%. I consider the cost from the same position.
The real term consists of the term of development of all its parts.

How accurate are these dates?

Accurate, because deadlines are usually delayed and take all the calculated time, although it was expected that they would be done in 70% :)

Answer 5

Alternatively, you can ask the developers to give a rough estimate in weeks for the development of the project. Based on past experience, they will say the terms for standard projects without much detail. And on the exchanges, sales will simply write the terms, indicating that they are very approximate.
Another small nuance: the deadlines indicated by the programmers are often too optimistic, so you need to take into account the risks - multiply them by 1.7 and add 2 weeks. 2 weeks is the period during which even if the programmer has not done anything before, he can make a ready-made presentable product 24/7.

Answer 6

Learn evaluation techniques. There are many of them on the Internet.
Another thing is that adding a dry percentage to the assessment is gangster methods. So you can work only with "collective farmers" who do not understand IT and development.