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Subject:Re: Technical Writers per Developer From:Nancy Hoft - CONTRACTOR HRIS <nhoft -at- MICMAC -dot- EAST -dot- SUN -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 17 Jan 1995 18:30:29 GMT
This topic has come up before, I think. And I wonder whether this metric--
number of writers per developer, or conversely, number of developers per
writer--makes sense at all. It seems very simplistic and not related to
the real issue: we need more talented writers to do great work on time.
I've typically been the only writer in engineering groups ranging in size
from four or five to 30-50. The ratio was always irrelevant to me. If I got
the
work done, on time, and produced high quality deliverables, then I was fine.
When
I started to realize that the quality of my work was at risk, or when I needed
to
work more hours than I wanted to on the project, I put up a red flag. I never
had
a problem.
I think a more appropriate metric should consider the amount of work to be done,
the
schedule, the time required to do a high-quality job, the roles and
responsibilities
of the writer(s), and so on.
