Re: The Problem With Keeping It Plain And Simple? (take II)

["Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

> Actually, IMO, once you have a good work and production history to back
> you up, then pages per hour is perfectly acceptable and in no way
> trivialises how technical writers work.
>
> You may spend more time on some topics than others, and some days produce
> little or no "finished" pages. But at the end of the project, if the new
> work is for a similar product, produced to the same degree of detail, and
> the same level of quality. It should remain within the same pages per hour
> envelope.

This is only true if the scope of work is the same as the previous
project. Otherwise you can throw this type of metric right out the
window and smile as you watch it slowly fall.

> What's more important than the metrics is how they are interpreted and
> used. So, if pages per hour (with suitable history to back up the numbers)
> are used to generate deadlines and budget, no problem. If the same is used
> on a weekly basis to evaluate productivity, then it's unacceptable.

Pages per hour is not a useful metric at all unless you are certain
that the scope of work will be the same from release to release. It's
also not a useful metric if the final page cound cannot be estimated
at the onset of the project.

Metrics' usefulness will vary, and it serves no good to hinge on any
particular one unless the right conditions fit.

--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.