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.
To estimate the number of pages in a manual for a software project, I try to
use a combination of things:
- number of screens (or windows) in the program - which hopefully can be
obtained from design docs
- number of function points in the program (which I try to relate back to
user tasks that need to be performed)
This means that the programmers must have done some up front analysis about
what they are going to develop. Based on previous experience with the
complexity of the user tasks associated with using the software, I assign X
number of pages per screen or per function point. Function points are
important since one screen may be used to perform several functions.
