Cost-estimation by analogy as a good management practice

It is widely-believed that software-development projects are almost always late. Good estimation techniques can help by providing an incentive to improve working practices, such as increasing the consistency of the development process. The authors give a summary of estimation methods, a model of the estimation process and a meta-model for estimation by analogy. They discuss future work and automation of the models. They believe that the analogy meta-model, used in the manner described by the estimation process model, will improve the standard of project management