There are so many unseen downsides to estimation. Instead, prioritize and get to work.
Software Estimation is a Losing Game - Should we even bother?
An alternative:
Let’s call it, Budget-Driven Development, or BuDD for short. In BuDD, development teams are given a set of resources and develop what they can until the budget is gone. I’m sure I just gave someone a heart attack, but when you think about it, it’s not too unreasonable. Many contracts have fixed time and costs. You make a guarantee that the customer will get a specific number of man-hours of development. Given a prioritized backlog, developers work on the three most important items. I imagine it would work similar Pandora’s prioritization model, but not be constrained by time.
You guarantee quality to your customer by:
Delivering capability often.
Allowing the customer to prioritize development.
Read the full article at: rclayton.silvrback.com