Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Web Development Project Estimator
Category: Showcase
Although most web designers have an idea of how long a project will take based on their past experience, far too often this guess becomes a final estimate. If you’ve ever been 300+ hours into a project that’s paying you for 100, I’m sure you know first hand why this can be a serious problem for a business. Up until now, I’ve used an excel spreadsheet to help me estimate accurately. About a month ago though, it occurred to me that I could make this calculator into a sweet little online tool. I figured it can only lead to more accurate estimates, stronger web businesses, and a better valuation of what we do as designers.
Of course, the fun is tracking how close you come to the estimator :)
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2.5 rating from 38 votes
Using Spreadsheets in Google docs offers much more capabilities, e.g. it’s easy to share the estimation.
Does not work at all with Opera 9.60. Too bad for a tool designed for and by webdevelopers :(
Does this offer any benefit over a Google Spreadsheet? Specific drawbacks I see:
- There’s no easy way to inspect the formulas.
- There’s no way to share it with anyone (data is stored in browser cookie. fail.)
- There’s no way to customize data and formulas to account for personal business process requirements. E.g. to set up a table of known rates and refer to those.
I agree this does not offer any benefit over a spreadsheet. But there’s a lot of freelance web designers/developers who don’t have an estimating process at all. It was created for them. I could have just distributed my own spreadsheet, but that wouldn’t be much fun.
The Opera issue will certainly be fixed at some point. Sorry ’bout that.
How about it is just simply easy to use. Reason enough for me to use it.
Congrats, a reinvent of a 5 “minute-to-create” spreedsheet, how impressive… ;)
Slow day on the news Dion…?
Ever heard of a spreadsheet?
Remind me not to hire you, or you might charge me for your time goofing off :)
Hmmm, an ajax site and you guys are chiding him for NOT using a spreadsheet. Shame on you all. I’d use it as well.
I find this useful, systematic and time saver… Nice one… thanks
@Remi
Just blew the dust off of my Opera install and upgraded to 9.63. It works just fine.
@ThomasHansen
Proving once again that there is no idea beneath your ridicule. Stay classy dude.
@SteveTheKiwi
Ever hear of toolsets designed for beginners or those taking a first step toward practiced time management?
I think this is a cool little app – love the inline editing. It’s quick, clean and easy and with a few improvements, could serve a lot of people well. Good work.
@jdenton
My point was that I think there are probably more important things to write about, don’t you think so…?
jdenton : wierd bug => sometimes, it works (progressive enhancements are done) and sometimes not : I still have all the text inputs, the default button at the bottom and no JS is working. Using Opera Error Console (I should use DragonFly to confirm), I cannot see any error.
I’m using Opera 9.60 under RHEL5. When I got time, I will upgrade to 9.63 to check if it solve the issue.
I think it’s a great little tool! Not everything has to reinvent the world. Every tool has a purpose, not every tool solves every problem for every person. Great job on this one man!