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I've currently working as the doc lead on a tech writing team, there are three of us writers all together.
I've done scheduling before, but only to a limited extent and it's been product driven (in other words, the release date of the product was determined far above me on the food chain, my job was to create a schedule that matched that release date).
This case is different. The product has been out there for about four years, we've been on the job for about six weeks, and the assignment is to get the docs out ASAP.
I've broken down the task at hand into the following steps:
1. Finish writing the draft.
2. Peer edit the drafts.
3. Incorporate edit comments.
4. In-house testing of the procedures.
5. Incorporate comments from the testing.
6. External (customer) testing of the procedures.
7. Incorporate customer testing comments.
8. Send files to publication.
(Steps 4 and 6 are required as part of our procedure.)
I can figure out a rough schedule based on the above, I know about how long each of those phases will take.
Here's my question, though: Have I left any big holes? Have I overlooked anything important? Any tips from experience that people would like to pass along?
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