Re: Ratio - Development to Documentation Hours

Subject: Re: Ratio - Development to Documentation Hours
From: Sandy Harris <sandy -at- storm -dot- ca>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 21:11:36 -0400

kris -dot- seguette -at- convergys -dot- com wrote:

> I've been asked to look for information regarding estimating documentation
> (user guides, training manuals and materials) time according to system
> development time. My reaction is that it doesn't make sense, but I don't
> want to tell the "powers that be" that without checking. I've searched the
> Internet and the archives, but haven't found anything that is a direct
> ratio between the two. The closest I've come is percent of total budget.
> Has anyone heard of this method?

Sometime in the mid-80s I saw a document discussing this. Of course by now
I've forgotten the reference and most of the details.

It was from one of the dwarfs in "IBM and the Seven Dwarfs", old mainframe
companies. I think Honeywell, but am not entirely certain. It was not a new
publication even then. I think late 60s or early 70s.

They had done a survey on the ratio of documenters to programmers in various
large projects at large companies.

In all cases except one Honeywell team, one writer could support between
3 and 6 programmers. The Honeywell team was getting 9 to 1 with a (for the
time) radical new methodology. All documentation from spec to user manual
was online. Writers, tech support and developers all had email. Support
forwarded common questions, and developers' answers, to the docs dep't.

Of course, the report was done by the team using these methods, so it
may have been a tad biased.

Also, I don't think it covered training, only system documentation.

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

A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/

+++ Miramo -- Database/XML publishing automation. See us at +++
+++ Seybold SFO, Sept. 25-27, in the Adobe Partners Pavilion +++
+++ More info: http://www.axialinfo.com http://www.miramo.com +++

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -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:
Ratio - Development to Documentation Hours: From: kris . seguette

Previous by Author: Re: Advice required
Next by Author: [Fwd: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way]
Previous by Thread: Ratio - Development to Documentation Hours
Next by Thread: RE: Ratio - Development to Documentation Hours


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


Sponsored Ads