Re: Estimation of Timelines for Documentation Projects

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

Goober Writer <gooberwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote on 10/06/2003 11:10:50 AM:
> Saying a writer can author 100 generic pages per week
> is like saying a developer can author 10 components
> per week.

As a set-in-stone projection of when the project will be completed, perhaps it
is a bad idea. But how else are you going to judge how long a project is going
to take.

And I say perhaps because it depends on how long you've been tracking your
productivity. If you've been tracking productivity for a good period of time
your average "page" includes simple and complex topics lightly to fully
researched and explained. This mix of "pages" will be the same as an average
project. So, the productivity study should produce very accurate estimates.

The danger is in not following productivity in the current project to identify
if the project is more complex than usual/average requiring a revision in the
estimates.


Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer



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