Re: Pages Per Day

["Suzette Leeming" <suzette -dot- leeming -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Somewhere I heard the expression "documentation can be 1) good, 2) fast, and
3) cheap. Pick two. If they want it that fast, and still want it to be good,
it isn't going to be cheap and will probably involved hiring a crew of
contractors to help out. If they don't want to do that, then it will be fast
and cheap, in which case it isn't going to be good.

Thanks for the link to the dependency calculator, Julie. It may come in
handy when I need to justify my own time :-)

I use Help & Manual, and tend to complete 4-5 topics per day. Of course,
that depends on the complexity of the topic though. Some topics may take a
couple of days to complete, while others can be finished in 15 minutes. I'd
like to be able to figure out an average.

Speaking of complexity, our application is modular and consists of
approximately 10+ modules. Some modules have user manuals that are 700 - 800
pages long. I am a lone technical writer who has only recently convinced
them that this is NOT a part time job. I tried to convince them to hire
another techwriter, so that we would be able to build up our knowledgebase,
as well as create training manuals and guides. I should have kept my mouth
shut though, because they love the idea of training materials, and have
added that to my list of tasks.

I responded by booking vacation (starting next week).

There are a lot of pointy-hair bosses out there.

Suzette Leeming


On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Julie Stickler <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com>
wrote:

> I've been using the dependency calculator on the ComTech Web site ever
> since someone posting it to one of my mailing lists.
>
> http://www.comtech-serv.com/dependency_calculator.htm
>
> I've been keeping track of my own productivity for a couple of years
> now, and so far my personal numbers match the estimator pretty well.
> My previous gig ran 3 - 5 hours per page, depending on the project.
> My current gig (which is a *tad* less structured and has no
> specifications to help me get up to speed) is taking me quite a bit
> longer.  I haven't finished my current project yet, but the estimates
> from the dependency calculator are 8 - 9 hours per page, which may
> explain why this project seems to be taking forever.  *groans*
>
> At five hours per page, tell them that you (lone writer?) can write
> them six and a half pages of documentation in four days.   If you've
> got a team, do the math for the team.  Then, as Bill said, let the
> negotiations begin.
>
> BTW, how long did they spend coding this monster?  I'm sure it wasn't
> four days...  Sounds like they brought the writers in a little late in
> the process.  I always want to say (but usually end up just muttering
> inside my head) "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an
> emergency on my part...."
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