Re: # of writers to developers

["Dana Worley" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>]

On Thursday, April 28, 2005, Frances McGill wrote: 

> To have a 1 to 1 ratio of writers to developers may be an ideal
> solution, but financially not feasible. 

1:1?  LOL!

I did a quick count --we have around 22 hardware & software 
developers. I do all the help files for our software and the majority of 
the manuals. I don't do all the hardware manuals -- often one of the 
people in marketing who is putting in major effort on the hardware 
project will, but I do get stuck with some. We also have a "technical 
writer" who regurgitates info for the literature and brochures, but I 
end up doing a lot of editing of her work. 

In my free time :) I do a considerable amount of hardware and 
software testing, customer support that gets elevated beyond a level 
that our "regular" CS can't handle, teach a training class about every 
4-5 months, edit other folk's documentation, and currently manage 
two projects.

1:1? Is that so you have someone to play ping-pong with when you 
are bored stiff? :)

Seriously, I think rather than looking at some meaningless ratio, you 
look at how many products you have that need documentation and 
how often you do a release of these products each year. Essentially, 
estimate the *workload* and go from there.  

Dana


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