Date:         Sat, 25 Mar 2000 03:02:50 GMT
Reply-To:     Theo DP <theodp@AOL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Theo DP <theodp@AOL.COM>
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Subject:      Re: SAS estimating how long it takes to write SAS programs

>Subject: SAS estimating how long it takes to write SAS programs
>From: SRhoades@US.IMSHEALTH.COM  (Rhoades, Stephen)
>Date: 3/24/00 7:14 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <2C005E5229E5D21181C20000F6C35619010C48E7@IMSUSPLYCX5>
>
>Our department has an effort underway to improve quality in the software
>development area.  We are revisiting our documentation on unit testing,
>system testing and QA (quality assurance).  At a committee meeting to
>discuss this we were told that we have a mandate from management to insure
>all of the testing is done prior to project completion and that we could go
>over our immediate manager's head if we were told to skip some portion of
>the testing.  There was not a lot of enthusiasm by most members of the
>committee, my personal opinion was challenging a manager like this is a
>lose-lose situation.  The second problem is there are no guidelines on how
>long it should take to develop a program and typically completion dates are
>established without knowing how many programs need to be written or how long
>it will take just to write them.
>
>I am interested in how other shops estimate how long it should take to write
>a SAS program.  In other languages the approach is to come up with a time
>estimate for an easy program, a medium one and a hard program along with a
>factor for skill level.  SAS in particular is a difficult, as you can have a
>whole mix of Data and Procs steps within a single program. There are also a
>number of other factors that go into a project whether it be single report
>or a whole system.  Do any of you have any guidelines that you would be
>willing to share?
>
>Thanks;
>
>Steve Rhoades
>
>
>
>
>
>
Ahhh...

The old 'easy', 'medium', and 'hard' program routine...

Makes me rember how long it's been since I've had a PHB...

BTW, the 'Dogbert Management Handbook' is not actually intended to be used to
run your organization...

:-}