# Present the estimate as a decision Translate duration into a transparent cost range and set the next evidence checkpoint. Duration: 5 min Show a plausible duration range, its evidence basis and the slices that could move it. Define the team cost per period and list one-off costs separately. Do not imply that staffing and duration move linearly. Finish with the choice the estimate supports: go, reshape, investigate or stop. Add a dated review trigger tied to evidence, not simply a routine status meeting. Say what the artefact is not. An initial estimate is not a release plan, an individual-task schedule or an unchangeable commitment. ## initial-estimates-m1-l3-reading ### Decision package Present six items together: bounded option, duration range, evidence basis, main uncertainty drivers, cost basis and next evidence checkpoint. End with the named decision and accountable decision-maker. Preserve later versions. A changed forecast should show what evidence changed and what decision followed. ### Worked example and transfer practice All examples below are fictional teaching material. Use synthetic notes; no workplace or personal data is required or uploaded. **Show the cost arithmetic and its limits.** Fictional planning scenarios: 4–6 team-weeks at 12,000 credits per team-week give 48,000–72,000 credits of delivery cost. The rate includes the team's labour and recurring tools; it excludes tax, supplier charges and operating support. This is multiplication of assumed scenarios, not a statistical confidence interval. Calendar time also depends on sequencing, availability and external queues. Show those assumptions with the range. **Try before reading the guide:** Recalculate at 15,000 credits per team-week. Then state what a five-day connector investigation must establish before the sponsor funds, reduces or stops the option. Keep the original version for comparison.
Practice review guide The new delivery-cost scenarios are 60,000–90,000 credits with the same exclusions. A stronger package includes the outcome, evidence basis, drivers, cost boundary, decision owner and dated or event-based review trigger.
## initial-estimates-m1-l3-check Public answer keys are intentional. This check does not establish competence.