Re: Tracking document complexity
How do other people track these things? Our writers are spread out all over the place, and the management doesn't necessarily sit in the same building (or state for that matter), so they need some good way to understand how things are going.
I haven't so far come across a good metric for this kind of thing.
There is one problem with metrics in general: If you use metrics as a proxy for the general performance of people, they may try to work to the metric, not the real goals.
Example: If you count finished documents, writers will be tempted to split documents in two (which may or may not make sense). If you count pages, there is a temptation to split the text into short paragraphs, use large graphics and tack on unnecessary appendixes. If you count characters, writers may stop using illustrations. And so on.
I believe that the above is not just a shortcoming of specific metrics but a problem with proxy measurements in general, no matter how sophisticated they are.
If there is no alternative to metrics: Have you investigated measuring customer satisfaction? This isn't easy to do, but it is, as a measurement, harder to manipulate by the writers.
Regards
Jan Henning
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Jan Henning
ROSEMANN & LAURIDSEN GMBH
Am Schlossberg 14, D-82547 Eurasburg, Germany
Phone: +49 700 0200 0700, Fax: +49 8179 9307-12
E-Mail: henning -at- r-l -dot- de, Web: www.r-l.de
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References:
Tracking document complexity: From: Rettinhouse, Richardx F
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