TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Measuring Productivity From:Marilynne Smith <m -dot- smith182 -at- GENIE -dot- GEIS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 9 Nov 1994 12:14:00 UTC
>> Communicators (the creative types that we are) don't like being
>> linked to productivity.
I certainly agree with that. Are engineers tracked for productivity?
Programmers? When part of your job is creating something or solving
problems, the productivity measurements fall flat.
I was once required to list daily how many pages I edited (simple, medium,
difficult), how many I proofed (simple, medium, difficult), how much time I
spent at each task, etc. I spent what seemed to me a large amount of time
counting pages and time for the productivity people. Eventually, wanting to
spend more time doing my work, I would lift the stack, guess at the mean
percentage, guess at the number of pages, add a fudge factor, and go back to
doing the work I was hired to do. My boss would tell you I was also hired
to do the productivity measurements.
However, I felt it was more important to translate engineereze into nice
readable copy. I was really good at that.
