Delivery model · 5 min read
A better estimate begins with better assumptions
Most implementation estimates are defensible arithmetic performed on inherited assumptions. The arithmetic is rarely the problem.
An estimate is downstream of a delivery model. Team shape, sequencing, integration strategy, the number of disciplines that must wait on each other — these determine the number long before anyone builds a spreadsheet.
So when leadership challenges a seven-figure estimate, the productive question is not whether the number is padded. It is whether the model underneath it is still the right one.
A second opinion is not automatically a recommendation to replace the incumbent. Often the incumbent is competent and the plan is sound. The purpose is to make sure the commitment is being approved on current assumptions rather than inherited ones.
This is ordinary governance applied to a place it is usually skipped. Organizations challenge price. They rarely challenge the model that produced the price.