Software Cost Estimation Inhibitors - A Case Study

Abstract. Software cost estimation errors are increasing in the automotive industry along with the number of software components in modern vehicles. As the software cost estimation is an important and problematic part of project planning there is a need of process improvement to decrease estimation errors. However, to improve the process of cost estimation there is a need to explore whether the perceived cost estimation problem is an estimation problem or if it is a management problem. This paper focuses on inhibitors in the process of software cost estimation in system development projects and reports the results of a study carried out at a Swedish automotive company in order to gain an understanding for the factors that affect the cost estimation process