  Software estimation is critical for a software project's success and a
challenging activity. We argue that estimation problems are not restricted to
the generation of estimates but also their use for commitment establishment:
project stakeholders pressure estimators to change their estimates or to accept
unrealistic commitments to attain business goals. In this study, we employed a
Design Science Research (DSR) methodology to design an artifact based on
negotiation methods, to empower software estimators in defending their
estimates and searching for alternatives to unrealistic commitments when facing
pressure. The artifact is a concrete step towards disseminating the soft skill
of negotiation among practitioners. We present the preliminary results from a
focus group that showed that practitioners from the software industry could use
the artifact in a concrete scenario when estimating and establishing
commitments about a software project. Our future steps include improving the
artifact with the suggestions from focus group participants and evaluating it
empirically in real software projects in the industry.
