In a recent article by an ex-windows project manager, there is a segment which I found particularly funny:
Every once in a while, Truth still pipes up in meetings. When this happens, more often than not, Truth is simply bent over an authoritative knee and soundly spanked into silence.
I found this funny because it is the epitome of most larger projects I work on. These are the projects (i.e. companies) that still use waterfall model and still fully expect to estimate a million line project within 5%. Change is still the exception.
I was reading somewhere recently that 75% of software projects go over budget and over schedule. Why is this acceptable? It's obvious that we have outgrown the use of traditional estimation tools. Why are so many companies reluctant to change and try something new? Why are we ignoring the truth?