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>
> John, I would say that 8 hours a page for all the
> planning, research, writing, illustration, review
> and revision management, etc., that goes into making
> a document is perfectly reasonable...for a *one page
> document.*
Interesting comment, and I fully agree. Most of my User's Guides (and other
docs for which I am 100% responsible) are 150--250 pages. They take much
less than 8 hours per page for a variety of reasons. On the other hand,
last year I had to write a four-page booklet for some software - I think its
working title was a "cheat sheet" and was the ONLY user's documentation that
the client wanted - and this bugger took me two solid weeks. New template,
new styles, new everything... plus I had to learn the program. It was well
over 20 hours per page. The client loved it, so I was happy.
Back to the original question. By far the best advice you've been given -
and you've gotten a lot of good advice - is to get your hands on
documentation from this company for hardware similar to the new release.
Tons o' uses for this, as noted before: How long did it take to create this
doc? (That's a reality check for your managers) Is this style acceptable?
(Allows you to worry about content without the fear that font-fondling will
impede your progress)
Best of luck. Consider it a challenge, consider also that they actually
think you can do this, so it's something of a compliment.
Paul Strasser
Ennovation, Inc.
2569 Park Lane, Suite 100
Lafayette, Colorado 80026
Phone: 303-468-1164
FAX: 303-926-1510
E-mail: paul -dot- strasser -at- ennovationinc -dot- com
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