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When I bid on a project, I usually use a formula that includes $3.15 hours per page. That may help your question.
As to your unrealistic expectations situation, a PM once gave me FOUR HOURS to write a "user guide" to meet a delivery deadline. The next day, the VP complained to the PM that "This isn't a user manual. Where's my user manual?"
Be seeing you,
Will
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Will Husa
> Technical Writer of User Friendly Procedure Manuals and HTML Help <
> Increasing Profits through Clear Communication <
Phone: 708.927.3569
Fax: 630.668.9283
www.4techwriter.com
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The software project that our tech pubs team has been working on has suffered
from frequent delays and setbacks. As writers, we knew that we would have a
tight deadline in regards to generating the end user documentation. During
yesterdayâs âkick offâ meeting we discovered just how tight this deadline is.
A little background information to build the suspense firstâ
This software application is huge â a basic ERP system with four separate
modules. There are 50-75 use cases per module. In my estimation thereâs going
to be ~500 pages of documentation.
Back to yesterdayâs meetingâ
The project manager â and one upper-manager â gave us (are you ready for this?)
four days to complete the end-user guide. The amusing part was that they
scheduled five days to decide on a table of contents, and two weeks for review.
Four days.
Iâm in the process of composing my response to this timeline but, short of
responding with âdear project manager, since you were obviously under massive
amounts of narcotics during yesterdayâs meeting,â Iâd like to come up with
something thatâs a little more like metrics and hard facts.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I seem to recall that the tech
writing standard for producing documentation that is ready for publication is
2-3 pages per day. Seems a little low, but thatâs what I recall. Does this
sound correct to you?
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
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You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as will -dot- husa -at- 4techwriter -dot- com -dot-
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
