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Re: % of time technical writers spend on core tasks?
Subject:Re: % of time technical writers spend on core tasks? From:Lois Patterson <loisrpatterson -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:15:12 -0700
I think a more general question would be - how much overhead time would be
eliminated by moving to a different documentation system, e.g., DITA.
For example: current documentation system requires overhead time of 40% to
produce the standard document set.
Replacement documentation system (when implemented completely) requires
overhead time of 5% to produce the standard document set.
But of course, you have to consider the ramp-up and conversion time, as
another poster mentioned. So any equation has to properly balance OHT_old,
OHT_new, and SwitchTime. Presumably SwitchTime falls to zero after a
certain period of time, so you would have to consider scenarios at
specified time points as well (e.g., 1 year, 2 years, 5 years).
Lois
On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 2:01 PM, Combs, Richard
<richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>wrote:
> William Sherman wrote:
>
> > He wanted information like:
> > - How many years formatting?
> > - How many years using Excel?
> > - How many years diagramming?
> > - Ability to write technical documents and end-user documentation
> > - How many years using Visio?
> > - How many years creating PDFs?
> > - How many years of Office Experience?
> > - How many years of MS Office - Expert Level? -- OK, so does the Office
> > Experience above mean Microsoft Office or sitting in a building at a
> desk?
> >
> >
> > But he really wanted to know how much time I had actually spend on each
> type
> > of task. It wasn't good enough I have done 20 plus years of technical
> > writing. How much of that was formatting? How much was using Excel? How
> much
> > was creating and working on diagrams? How much was creating PDFs?
>
> I think either you're misunderstanding the recruiter or the recruiter is
> misunderstanding what information is needed. For all the questions above, I
> think what's called for is the number of years of experience, not the
> cumulative total number of hours spent. E.g., if you began using Visio in
> 1995 and used it off and on since, except for 3 years in the mid-2000s,
> then you have 10 years of experience with Visio.
>
> I think the repetition is a standard questioning technique for tripping up
> liars.
>
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-903-6372
> ------
>
>
>
>
>
>
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