Project Estimating, project estimation

I believe we should consider these points for estimation  process. there may be more, pls feel free to add. 

1.       Risks, Scope  and complexity of the project

2.       Domain/Functional/Technical Knowledge for requirements of team

3.       know strengths and weaknesses of individuals team members for requirement

4.       Know weaknesses of requirement with analysis meetings with functional expertise team members, QA, Architects and business analysts. 

5.       Process time:  process hours of project (including QA push process, development label creation, SCRUM meeting and any developer environment setup (not main environment setup) )

6.       Development time: real development hours

7.       Unit testing time: unit testing hours 
      
       EXCEPTION Handling:

8.       Developer buffer time

a.       waiting period for dependency information

b.      Estimations Can Go Wrong

c.       Unrealistic interpretation of original requirements

d.      Inadequate/unclear requirements

9.       Management buffer time ( Buffer time as per risks of project)

a.       Availability of All the Resource

b.      System outage

c.       Estimations Can Go Wrong

Few points

1.       Historical data for the previous estimation for improvement and accuracy

2.       It’s good to include assigned developers in estimation process after 1^st level of estimation (after Architects estimate).

3.       In estimation process, it will be good to give enough time to developer so he can at least go through limitations of current system and resource, learning curves of new technology for project.

4.       It will be good, if we get time for proof of concept depends on project, if project needs proof of concept.   

5.       More meetings with business analyst and QA will help to understand and streamlining the project requirements. 

6.       Estimation will be more accurate and efficient if developer will be included in design phase.