NANY 2010 Release: Bestimate

[skwire]

NANY 2010 Entry Information

Application Name	Bestimate
Version	v1.0.5
Short Description	A small utility designed to help you become more accurate and realistic about your predictions and promises.
Supported OSes	All Windows OS
Web Page	Bestimate
Download Link	Zip file (portable)
System Requirements	Windows OS
Version History	Changelog
Author	Jody Holmes (Skwire)
Screencast (courtesy of mouser, thanks!)	http://donationcoder.com/nany2010/sc/bestimate/bestimate.html YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ubABfi7rlM

Description
Original idea from mouser here: http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=20629.0

Bestimate is a utility designed to help you become more accurate and realistic about your predictions and promises.  Add items like "Number of pages I will write this week" or "Number of pounds i will lose this month", and provide your predicted/promised values.  Then, at the end of the time period, record your actual achieved values.  Bestimator keeps track of how far off you were from your initial prediction/promise.  Note that this program is intended to help you become more realistic about your predictions, so being off in either direction is just as bad!

Features

• Track as many estimates as you would like.
• Real-time updating of estimates as you adjust the data.
• Export to CSV option.

Planned Features
I cater to the people so suggest something.  

Screencast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ubABfi7rlM

Screenshots



Usage
Installation
Unpack the archive to its own folder and run Bestimate.exe.

Using the Application
1. Right-click the list (or use the toolbar buttons) and choose "Add entry" from the menu.  A new entry will be added to the list with some default values.  You will see a grey icon as well.  This signifies that the entry hasn't been completed yet.
2. Name the entry whatever you'd like and change the values as needed using the fields at the bottom.
3. The accuracy is calculated in realtime as you adjust the numbers.
4. Once you complete the entry by entering in an "Actual Value", the icon will turn green if 100% or red otherwise.
5. The status bar will show an average accuracy from all your entries.

Uninstallation
Delete the folder you unpacked the archive to.  Nothing is written to the registry.

Known Issues
It wouldn't be software if it didn't have issues.  Let me know if you find any.

[mouser]

nice 

[cranioscopical]

I realize that one can set the columns to auto but it would be nice if the app remembered whatever sizing was last set.
When trying this out I dragged columns around to the dimensions that I wanted, but on restart the interface reset to default.

[skwire]

I realize that one can set the columns to auto but it would be nice if the app remembered whatever sizing was last set.
When trying this out I dragged columns around to the dimensions that I wanted, but on restart the interface reset to default.

Doh...bug on my part.  Widths and column order should be saved now.  Thanks.

Website | Download
v1.0.2 - 2009-12-31
   ! Column order and widths weren't being saved properly.  (Thanks, cranioscopical)

[cranioscopical]

Widths and column order should be saved now.

Lovely grub! Works a treat, thanks! 

[cranioscopical]

Hi Skwire

I'd like to use this to track a few recurring tasks.
My principal measurement unit is hours.
The items I'd like to monitor can run from a couple of hours to a few days.
At the low end of that range, 10, 15, or 37 minutes can be significant.
I can't enter a decimal into the fields for predicted/actual values.
Rather than a quick mental conversion to minutes (requires thinking ) would you consider allowing decimal entries?

(I hope this hasn't been discussed and rejected elsewhere.)

[skwire]

would you consider allowing decimal entries?

Done.   

Website | Download
v1.0.3 - 2010-01-05
    ! Decimal values are now allowed.  (Thanks, cranioscopical)

[cranioscopical]

Generous of spirit, as ever. Thanks! 

[cranioscopical]

Skwire,

I return to bang my tin cup on your wall.

If there are many tasks to a project it'd be useful to achieve an overview.
Since I hate to remove my socks, any chance of a totals row at the foot of the window, in order to sum each column?

[skwire]

any chance of a totals row at the foot of the window, in order to sum each column?

Sure...but did you mean just the Actual Value, Predicted Value and Accuracy columns?  Otherwise, I'm not sure how you'd like the other columns totaled, guv.  =]

[cranioscopical]

any chance of a totals row at the foot of the window, in order to sum each column?

Sure...but did you mean just the Actual Value, Predicted Value and Accuracy columns?  Otherwise, I'm not sure how you'd like the other columns totaled, guv.  =]

My apologies for being vague. Yes, the Actual, Predicted, and Accuracy columns are those for which I'd like to see totals.
Here, a typical project probably breaks into 20-40 significant chunks. A see-at-a-glance overview of those columns would be useful both for a final analysis and also as a crude guide to progress during execution.

At the same time, I'm aware of being lazy by not dumping the .csv into a spreadsheet 

[skwire]

Would it be acceptable if I put these averages into the statusbar?

[cranioscopical]

Would it be acceptable if I put these averages into the statusbar?

You bet, anywhere you like! Thanks for considering this!

[skwire]

Website | Download
v1.0.4 - 2010-02-04
    + Added average predicted and actual values to the statusbar.  (Thanks, cranioscopical)

Please, sir, may I have some more? 

[cranioscopical]

Website | Download
v1.0.4 - 2010-02-04
    + Added average predicted and actual values to the statusbar.  (Thanks, cranioscopical)

Brilliant!

Please, sir, may I have some more?   

Well, Oliver, since you ask... here's a new twist.
Can I have a separate Bestimate file for each of many projects?
If projects are sequential there's no problem, I can simply delete unwanted items and start again. However, if projects run in parallel and each has many steps...

[skwire]

Can I have a separate Bestimate file for each of many projects?
If projects are sequential there's no problem, I can simply delete unwanted items and start again. However, if projects run in parallel and each has many steps...

Funny you should ask since I've already started work on that based on what you said a few posts ago.  =]

[cranioscopical]

Funny you should ask since I've already started work on that based on what you said a few posts ago.  =]

Good heavens, prescience now!

[skwire]

Well, you had mentioned tracking multiple projects so it seemed a pretty logical jump to being able to save/load separate files per project.  It's not hard to implement...I'll finish it up tomorrow.

[skwire]

Website | Download
v1.0.5 - 2010-02-27
   + Added per-file saving/loading.  (Thanks, cranioscopical)
   + Added up/down toolbar buttons to move a selection in the listview.
   + Added a "Recent files" menu to the main File menu.
    * Changed the icon look from the Silk set to the Fugue set found at http://www.pinvoke.com.

New look:

[attachthumb=#]

[cranioscopical]

v1.0.5 - 2010-02-27

Very nice!
I use this now for tracking the accuracy of my time estimates for each step of complex projects with rigid deadlines.

[skwire]

Thanks for all the testing of this latest version, Chris.  I much appreciate it.  =]