The effects of request formats on judgment-based effort estimation

Authors:
Magne Jørgensen;Torleif Halkjelsvik
Affiliations:
Simula Research Laboratory, Lysaker, Norway and Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway;Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
Venue:
Journal of Systems and Software
Year:
2010

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Abstract

In this paper we study the effects of a change from the traditional request ''How much effort is required to complete X?'' to the alternative ''How much can be completed in Y work-hours?''. Studies 1 and 2 report that software professionals receiving the alternative format provided much lower, and presumably more optimistic, effort estimates of the same software development work than those receiving the traditional format. Studies 3 and 4 suggest that the effect belongs to the family of anchoring effects. An implication of our results is that project managers and clients should avoid the alternative estimation request format.