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Subject:Re: Estimating time. From:Mitch Berg <mberg -at- IS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 29 Jan 1997 13:06:18 -0600
Ron Sering CDS wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any methods of estimating the time required for a documentationproject, for both Winhelp and paper manuals?
For Context-Sensitive Help projects, the rule of thumb I use is:
(Number of GUI screens * 1.25) +
(Number of controls to receive Help) +
(Number of other items (methods, variables or classes, for example)
= Number of Topics
Number of Topics * 2 = Total Hours (counting reviews, etc)
Note: the number of GUI screens * 1.25 is if you're doing Task-based
help. If you're omitting either Task or Control help (what's this
control do)
I've used this ROThumb many times with decent results. I don't remember
where I found it...
>
> I've heard of "industry standard" estimates of both 5 hours per page and 6.5 hours per page, but am not sure what this really means (for example, are these hours/page estimates for all drafts--and how many drafts? Do they include graphics development?) What other methods are in use out there?
My big question is - how do you estimate the NUMBER OF PAGES???
I'm generally really good at estimating online help - but bad at print
projects.
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