Re: techwr-l digest: April 09, 2002

[greg -dot- hamill -at- teradyne -dot- com]

Stan Schwartz wrote

>I am looking for the "best practices" or "standards" that are used when
>estimating a writer's time for a documentation project.  I seem to recall
>that most managers used the
>x# of pages/day/writer rule. Does this still hold true?

Hi,
I've been experimenting with a different method.
It's radical.
It works.

1. Estimate _exactly_ how long it will take you to do the job.
     Ignore all other factors.
2. Double the number and use the next time multiplier.

Here's an example:
1. The estimate: "I think I can do this in 3 days."
2. Double the number. Three becomes six.
Use the next time multiplier. Days become weeks.

Thus, the job will be finished in six weeks.
This includes all manner of things such as gathering reference
material, meetings, phone calls, hangovers, writer's block, and
'stuff'.
     s

This is Wertzheimer's Rule (addendum to Murphy's Law).
Greg


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