Estimating time to author software help manual?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Jennifer C. Bennett wondered: <<I've been researching ways to estimate 
the time it will take to write a software user manual.  I thought I'd 
ask this question here on TECHWR_L>>

It's actually pretty simple: you count up the number of things you need 
to do in each category (e.g., number of icons, number of dialogs, 
number of data-entry or selection areas per dialog...), figure out how 
long it takes you (on average) to do any one thing in each category 
(e.g., document a checkbox), multiply the number of items in a group by 
the average time per item for that group, and total up the results. 
Piece of cake. Everything else is just details. <g>

A search of the techwr-l archives using key words such as "estimating", 
"time", and so on will turn up plenty of useful information. Some of 
the useful details can also be found in more condensed form at: 
http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2006/estimating.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.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.