Estimating Business Applications

Estimates matter. Forecast with Confidence.

"How much is it going to cost? "How long is it going to take?"

Would you sponsor a Dynamics 365 or Power Platform project if your team couldn't confidently answer those two little questions? I wouldn't. And I wouldn't expect my stakeholders to either.

Good estimates are critical to getting business cases approved and to getting proposals shortlisted. Yet many Microsoft business applications teams are relying on out-dated estimation techniques borrowed from the construction industry. These techniques founded upon requirements specifications, design documents and Gantt charts that take months to prepare. These documents resist change, are out-of-date as soon as they are published, and are never accurate.

In Estimating Business Applications you'll learn why estimates are critical and why some alternative approaches such as estimating in units of time like hours or days or t-shirts don't work.

Instead, you'll learn how to use user story points to estimate your requirements. First, you'll learn what user story points are then how to use them as a team to estimate your requirements and get your projects approved.

Estimating Business Applications is a free mini-course. It'll take you a couple of hours. It includes quizzes along the way to test your understanding and reinforce what you've learned.

If you'd like to learn how to estimate business applications projects and create even better estimates, you're invited to unlock the advanced sections of the course and discover how to take your estimating to the next level and achieve your Estimating Business Applications certificate.

Be able to confidently, quickly and accurately estimate business applications and get your Dynamics 365 and Power Platform projects approved.

Course Curriculum

Welcome
2 Lessons
- Welcome to Estimating Business Applications
  Start
- Course resources
  Start
1 Why estimate at all?
6 Lessons
- How much and how long?
  Start
- Why are estimates notoriously inaccurate?
  Start
- Estimating time doesn't work
  Start
- Estimating t-shirts doesn't work either
  Start
- Estimates, forecasts and commitments
  Preview
- Estimating quiz
  Start
2 Story points
4 Lessons
- Trailing running
  Start
- Factors affecting size
  Start
- Estimation scales
  Start
- Story points quiz
  Start
3 How to estimate requirements
6 Lessons
- Slicing stories
  Start
- Setting a standard story
  Start
- Affinity estimation
  Start
- Planning poker
  Start
- Estimating requirements quiz
  Start
- How long will it take?
  Start
4 How to estimate projects
8 Lessons
- Estimating features and epics
  Start
- Predicting initial velocity
  Start
- Estimates as constraints
  Start
- User story maps
  Start
- Release burndown charts
  Start
- Estimates in sales proposals
  Start
- Fixed-scope, fixed-price, fixed-date estimates
  Start
- Estimating projects quiz
  Start
5 Better estimates
5 Lessons
- Triangulation
  Start
- Sticky situations
  Start
- Pitching story points to stakeholders
  Start
- Scaling estimates
  Start
- Measuring velocity
  Start

Neil Benson

Welcome to Customery. My mission is to help everyone use the Scrum framework to successfully implement Microsoft Business Applications. That’s why I created the Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps course, as well as my blog and podcast.

I started using the Scrum framework to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM in 2008. In fact, the case study of my first project is one of the lessons in the course. I’ve been working with CRM systems for over 20 years and implementing them for the past 16 years.

I took my Scrum Alliance Certified ScrumMaster training with Mike Cohn and I’m a Scrum.org certified Professional Scrum Master and Professional Product Owner too.

I love pitching, envisioning and delivering agile Microsoft Business Applications projects that provide amazing results for my customers. And amazing experiences for their users and their customers.

As well as running consulting practices for a national firm in the US and a global professional services firm, I’ve started and sold a Microsoft hosting and consulting company. I’ve also spent over ten years as an independent consultant leading Scrum teams delivering successful CRM outcomes.

Microsoft has given me a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award each year since 2010 for my thought-leadership in the Microsoft Business Applications community. I’ve organised and spoken at numerous Microsoft conferences and user groups in person and online.

I grew up in Belfast and I've lived in Edinburgh, London and Los Angeles. So now you know where my messed-up accent comes from. Today, I live in Brisbane, Australia, with my family who help me build LEGO models for Customery. And if I wasn't delivering Business Applications with Scrum, I'd love to be a pizzaiolo with my own pizzeria.

Course Pricing

Free
Free

Single student enrolment with access to two sections.
Join for free
1 Why estimate at all?
2 Story points

Pre-release
$47 USD

Single student enrolment with access to all course sections and a certificate of completion.
Join now
1 Why estimate at all?
2 Story points
3 How to estimate requirements
4 How to estimate projects
5 Better estimates
Course completion certificate