how do you....

[Glen Accardo <glen -at- SOFTINT -dot- COM>]

This is part of the "estimating schedules" discussion.

I work for a software company which makes database tools.  I try not to let
my documents suffer from "creeping elegance," but our software has a tendancy
to develop features that no one knows about.

1.  How much time do you allow for developers saying "Oh yea, there is another
    feature that I didn't tell you about...."

2.  What do you do when such a feature ruins the organization of a chapter,
    section, whatever?  That is, it doesn't fit logically, or perhaps requires
    too much space, or forces a different approach to explaining something.

    For example, one of our tools had 5 command-line arguments.  Without my
    knowing, it grew fifteen more with some complicated interactions.  What
    was about a page and a half became eleven pages with two diagrams and
    five or six cross references in fourteen subsections.  Ouch!

3.  I don't want to require developers to fill out forms or reports, but I'd
    like to get more day-to-day information about features that have been
    added, planned, etc.  Any suggestions for a formal line of communications
    between thirty developers working on about a dozen products and two
    frazzled tech writers trying to keep up with it all?

Thanks,
------------
glen accardo                         glen -at- softint -dot- com
Software Interfaces, Inc.            (713) 492-0707
Houston, TX 77084

Did the Corinthians ever write back?