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Subject:Re: How to Estimate Project Time? From:Caryn Rizell <caryn -at- HPPTC95 -dot- ROSE -dot- HP -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 23 May 1994 13:29:46 PDT
Hi!
I think the key issue in your estimating should be the time
it is going to take you to be comfortable with FrameMaker.
I am assuming that you have done other projects. You can use
your past experience to come up with time estimates. Have you
kept track of time spent on past projects? If you haven't, start
now. It may seem time consuming now, but you can get a good
reading of the time it takes you to do new pages, update pages, etc.
The unknown for this project, though, is FrameMaker. Are all
the templates created? Do you have to create a book, toc, index?
I would use my past experience with other projects and then
add to it the amount of time you need to be fluent in Frame.
Just converting to Frame from WP is going to take time, no matter
how easy Frame claims it is going to be.
Hope this helps.
Caryn Rizell
caryn -at- hpptc95 -dot- rose -dot- hp -dot- com
> My employers want me to give them an estimate of the time it will take me to
> document our software tables.
> The tables currently take up 80 pages of a manual. User instructions are
> mixed in with reference material, sales material, and process analysis.
> I've proposed to separate out the reference material for reference pages,
> eliminate the sales material, create an overview page for each unit of three
> topics, and then an instruction page for each topic. The material is in Word
> Perfect 5.1 and I am a new FrameMaker user.
> I suggested that we do one unit: reference page, user overview, and 3 topic
> pages and judge time by that one unit. The company feels that is not a
> reasonable approach. They want an estimate without any trial run.
> Help. Please do not be too tired from the STC conference to help me out.
> I will be working in Frame. The basic paragraphs tags are prepared.
> The company will not tell me the maximum time they will allow before discon-
> tinuing the project. How would you handle the estimating task?
