Re: Time estimate for writing manual

Subject: Re: Time estimate for writing manual
From: TechComm Dood <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 16:28:15 -0400


> I said "seems reasonable" because I didn't want to say that it was just
> impossible to give an hour figure at this stage. And another reason was
> that when I looked at the total dollar figure of the entire job, it was
> over $8,000, and I thought to myself that a manual (user and admin), a
> Help file, and technical specifications -- three documents -- for
> $8,000 -- sounded about right. I suppose it's obvious that I have never
> done this before.

The last Help system I worked on cost $100,000.00 USD just to
localize!!! Granted it was gigantic...

> How does one word a statement of work if the time involved is unknown at
> the outset?

You firmly state that it's unknown and that the immediate scope of
work is to scope the work, and then an accurate scope of work will be
submitted once the scope is known. Wow... too much use of the word
scope... I have an impulse to rinse... LOL!

> Is there a way to figure out the time per feature or something?

Mostly that comes from practice. Feature is a very gray term. One
feature might be "opens a file" and another might be "turns gifs into
gold". You need to allow yourself ample time to size up the product,
and go from there.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

COMPONENTONE DOC-TO-HELP 7 PROFESSIONAL: From a single set of Word documents, create online Help and printed documentation. New version offers yearly subscription service, Natural Search, Modular TOC Utility, Image Map Editor, Theme Designer, Context String Editor, plus more. http://www.componentone.com/doctohelp .

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



References:
Re: Time estimate for writing manual: From: John Posada
Re: Time estimate for writing manual: From: Bonnie Granat

Previous by Author: Re: Time estimate for writing manual
Next by Author: Re: Time estimate for writing manual
Previous by Thread: Re: Time estimate for writing manual
Next by Thread: Re: Time estimate for writing manual


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads