FW: How fast do I need to be able to write?

[Lynn Perry <CLPerry -at- WALLDATA -dot- COM>]

re: [1 hour for meetings, etc.] may be a bit optimistic - meetings and other
corporate overhead take a
serious bite out of my day, and I'm in a reasonably streamlined company.

I took a workshop that quoted a statistic that each interruption, regardless
of the subject or length, costs about seven minutes in addition to the
actual interruption duration. I think that a bit long, but it's true that
during edits, I'll occasionally run across a sentence fragment, highly
indicative of interruption. How long it takes to remember what I was typing
a few minutes ago vs. several days ago can certainly be longer than seven
minutes.

When my colleague and I are working on indexing, we purposely don't ask
about information organization. When we're doing organization, we try not to
bring in fact-checking, and so on. When we violate these unwritten rules, it
definitely costs in time. (I'm speaking in the ideal, here; need drives
action in most cases.)

In my experience, some tasks call for detailed lists of to do items  while
others require research-type activities involving seemingly aimless
investigation. I find lists most helpful near software ship when many things
happen at once. I use the research approach when I'm learning new areas of
the product. Of course, I have that freedom specifically because I'm a
permanent employee. As a contractor, I rarely had that luxury, but then, I
rarely needed it; usually the details were worked out and a task assigned.
C. Lynn Perry
clperry -at- walldata -dot- com
Opinions expressed are mine alone
Wall Data Incorporated, Seattle  WA
Some days it doesn't pay to gnaw through the straps


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