ABSTRACT
Estimating is crucial to planning. Before you can plan how to complete tasks and activities, you need to have some idea of how long each will take and what resources will be needed to complete it. If you know that one task has to be completed before another can be started, you need to know how long the first task will take before you can schedule when the second task can start. When you have to consider contracting and paying staff to carry out particular tasks, substantial costs can be involved and considerable waste if the estimates are inaccurate. To some extent, estimating is always a guess. As in most guessing, your judgement can be improved by knowledge and experience (whether this is your own or that of those you consult) and by use of some of the tools and techniques that can support decision-making.
