The code estimate was the whole plan
A code-only number and a vendor quote size software work. They do not size who must learn the new process or what else stops while they do.
For engineering directors
Estimate Both Sides of the Build. No Certification Required.
You don’t need an active PMO or parallel questionnaires to protect delivery dates. After early IT triage chooses the discovery path, one BA facilitates the shared answers and Business and IT size their parts of the work on the same record before investment approval.
For engineering directors, VPs of engineering, and founders who refuse to hire a PMO just to protect a delivery date.
Symmetric Sizing makes visible
- An IT-triaged request instead of a slogan
- One BA-facilitated record for Business and IT answers
- The people cost and the code cost before the investment yes
The blind spot of software estimates
You do not need a certification to protect a date. Engineering often sizes the build honestly. The project still slips because legal review, support scripts, customer notices, and first-month backfill were never on the same record.
Rollout hid in a later plan
Training, staff notices, and go-live ownership get a “we’ll handle that in ops” until the week before launch, when they become the reason the date slips.
The delay looked like an engineering miss
When only one number was funded, the late training plan reads as a slipped build. Both sides needed a number before anyone said yes.
A code-only guess versus both sides of the work
The traditional PMO way
“Two weeks for the screens and the hookup.”
Symmetric Sizing
Two weeks plus the hours to teach, cover shifts, and notify people.
The traditional PMO way
Launch readiness lives in a separate deck.
Symmetric Sizing
Training, process change, and go-live sit on the request.
The traditional PMO way
A hallway yes only funds the build.
Symmetric Sizing
Leaders see both numbers before they record yes, no, or not yet.
The traditional PMO way
Symmetric Sizing
“Two weeks for the screens and the hookup.”
Two weeks plus the hours to teach, cover shifts, and notify people.
Launch readiness lives in a separate deck.
Training, process change, and go-live sit on the request.
A hallway yes only funds the build.
Leaders see both numbers before they record yes, no, or not yet.
Size the people work beside the build
Ready for Discovery is not the funding decision. Once the IT Owner has recommended Standard Discovery, Lightweight Discovery, or Existing Solution Review, one BA facilitates the shared questions. Then Business and IT estimate their own effort before anyone records the investment yes.
- 1
Start from the routed discovery record
Use the path and specialist reviews identified during IT Triage. The BA’s shared answers become the source for both estimates.
- 2
Size Business and IT work separately
Business counts training, process change, and adoption. IT counts the build, integrations, data movement, and cutover. Both remain on the same request.
- 3
Decide with both numbers visible
Record yes, no, or not yet on the pair. Approved work keeps those numbers attached so a later slip has an owner.
Common questions
Questions engineering leaders ask first
Is this a second estimate process on top of story points?+
No. Delivery teams can still count sprint work after the investment is approved. These estimates follow IT-triaged, BA-facilitated discovery and size the overall Business and IT change before the funding decision.
What belongs on the business side?+
Training design, learner time, supervisor time, backfill, first-month support, customer or staff notifications, and process changes that must be true for the software to be used. If it is required for the launch to stick, it is part of the size.
What if the business side refuses to estimate?+
That refusal is the signal. A missing number is more honest than a launch date that assumed training was free. Foundry keeps the gap visible instead of letting the technical estimate stand in for the whole change.
Do Business and IT complete discovery at the same time?+
No. One BA facilitates the selected discovery path and records answers from the appropriate Business or IT perspective. The early IT-triage signoff supplies the technical routing context; the product does not require several people to run the questionnaire simultaneously.
Is this software change estimation or story points?+
Software change estimation here is the pair before coding starts: business rollout next to the technical build. Story points can still size sprint work after the investment is approved. This page is the gate that makes both sides of the change visible first.
Is an IT project cost estimate just the development quote?+
No. An IT project cost estimate for software change includes training, coverage, and adoption next to the technical build. That pair is software cost estimation before a yes. A development quote alone is half the cost.
Put training and the build on the same record
Request Private Alpha and see a paired estimate before the next launch date is set from a code-only number.
See Both Sides of the Build