Time estimate for writing manual?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Bonnie Granat wrote: <<A prospective client (the same one I wrote about 
some weeks ago) and I are in the process creating a Statement of Work 
for the first part of the project. This first part consists of a User 
Guide that contains both end-user and administrator information. While 
I have seen the application, I have not seen it yet in actual use.>>

Cue scary background music... <g>

<<The client will be coming to my home office to train me for 8 hours 
and after that I will begin work. My problem is this: the client has 
estimated the time for writing to be 120 hours, and I cannot tell at 
this point how many hours will be required.>>

You informed the client that the estimates seemed reasonable but that 
you can't tell for sure without actually seeing the program. That's 
reasonable, and it seems like they've accepted your suggestion, which 
is a good sign. If you can get the client to provide you with a 
functional specifications document of some sort (i.e., a list of 
features and the number of interface widgets such as menu choices, 
fields, utilities, etc. used to implement them), you can come up with a 
better estimate.

If they don't have any such planning document, add in a ton of padding 
to account for "feature creep": people who work without a plan are a 
nightmare to work with. I fired a client recently because they were 
largely "making it up as they went along", and I have too much other 
work to put up with that kind of amateurish crap. Life's too short, and 
all that. (Before anyone asks, "too late: I already passed the client 
on to a colleague with more patience than I have, and everyone loves 
each other. Sorry!")

I recommend adding a clause to the contract that states something like 
the following: "During the training session, we will develop a complete 
list of all menus and dialogs etc. etc. etc. that must be documented, 
and the client will sign the list to indicate that this constitutes the 
***full scope of the work***. Within a couple days after creating this 
list, I will come up with a revised estimate of time requirements. 
Anything added to the interface after this list has been approved will 
be billed at the following rate... [details]."

Also make sure to find out how much access you'll have to the 
developers and to get this in writing; the less access you have, the 
more you will need to pad your time estimates to account for research 
and chasing down "people who know".

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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