Re: time per page

[Garret Romaine <GRomaine -at- MSMAIL -dot- RADISYS -dot- COM>]

Some anonymous writer penned this paragraph:

>Just out of curiosity, how many pages of a tech manual can you produce
>in one day (8 hours).  I'm doing about 3. Is that average?

The answer is, naturally enough, "it depends." I published over 4,000 pages
of hardware and software manuals last year, which at 250 working days, comes
to about 16 pages per day. But some of these were rewrites of existing
technical reference manuals for big software programs, and I didn't have to
create each page from scratch. Some were 'massaged' from fairly good
specifications, some were cut 'n paste from existing documents, and some
were brand, spanking new.

As they say in the car commercials, "Your mileage may vary." I know
Hemmingway was damn glad to get three pages a day through his typewriter,
but then he didn't have all of our tools -- grammar checker, spell checker,
word processor, a graphical user interface... On further reflection, he also
didn't have to deal with computer virus alerts, balky hardware, Microsoft,
dirty mouse pads, and arrogant engineers. But if you have the quality of Big
Papa, three pages a day more than enough to justify soaking up expensive gin
at your favorite watering hole each night.

Garret Romaine
gromaine -at- radisys -dot- com

"A fella... A quick fella... might have a weapon under there. I'd have to
pin his head to the panel."
 -The Road Warrior