Owning Our Estimates

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Abigail Paulson
April 2024
Owning Our Estimates

So your boss has this great idea and needs you to make it happen. She wants to add a feature to your storefront but you have no idea how to do it. It's time to turn to your Support team at Binary Anvil.

Here at Binary Anvil, we pride ourselves on our meticulous process and transparent estimates. When you bring us your idea, we swing into action to make it a reality. Here's a glimpse into how we make it happen:

1. Understanding Your Needs

You tell us what you are looking for, and we create a ticket in JIRA with all of your requirements. Sometimes this requires a meeting to discuss specifics, and a great place to have these conversations is on our client syncs. Our Solutions Architect or Business Analyst will work closely with you to create User Stories and Acceptance Criteria for the feature your boss needs.

2. Estimation

Once the User Stories and Acceptance Criteria are approved, our developers get to work creating an estimate for the feature. All our estimates are reviewed by a Solutions Architect or a Business Analyst to ensure the implementation steps are accurate and any potential issues are addressed. We believe in transparency, so we present you with a low, target, and high estimate. This gives you a clear picture of the potential costs involved. You take the estimate to your boss to ensure it fits into your budget for the month, and when it does, you approve the Binary Anvil team to begin work.

3. Development and Quality Assurance

The Binary Anvil team dives into development, making all the necessary changes under the User Stories and Acceptance Criteria. Once the developer completes their changes, they push them from their local environment to the development environment. If everything is working as intended, the developer creates a Pull Request (PR) to staging, and we deploy those changes. At this stage, our quality assurance team steps in to rigorously test the feature and the site. They ensure that all of the Acceptance Criteria are met and that the site is functioning appropriately. If any in-scope issues are found during testing, the ticket is sent back to the developer to fix the feature, regardless of how long the fix will take.

4. Client Testing

Once our internal testing is complete, the ticket is flipped over to the client for testing. If you find that the feature does not align with the criteria in the ticket or if you encounter any issues while testing, our team will assess if these are within the scope of the ticket. If they are, we'll fix the issue without adding additional hours to the estimate. This is true both during testing on staging as well as production. Once you sign off on your tests, your new feature is ready to go live in production, and your boss will be impressed with the seamless implementation. 

5. Staying True to Our Estimates

The great thing about working with Binary Anvil is our commitment to our estimates. Once you have an estimate, we stand by it. Our estimate will not change, allowing you to plan your 2-week Sprints effectively and manage your contracted hours. Your boss stays happy when you stay within budget and hours, and this reflects positively on you as an employee.

6. Our Promise

Once you have approved your estimate, we do not charge you additional time for in-scope issues. This commitment to transparency and integrity ensures that you can trust us with your projects, knowing we will deliver as promised.

In conclusion, when you work with Binary Anvil, you're not just getting a development team; you are getting a partner committed to your success. Our thorough process, transparent estimates, and dedication to quality ensure that your projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to your satisfaction. So the next time your boss has a brilliant idea, you know where to turn—Binary Anvil, where ideas become reality.