TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: Estimation of the number of pages to be written per day
Subject:Re: Estimation of the number of pages to be written per day From:"Sherry Michaels" <sherry -dot- michaels -at- docntrain -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 28 Dec 2004 11:22:18 -0700
Gene said: <<I rewrote everybody's objectives to specify the completion of
documentation in synch with product releases as the criteria for their
performance reviews, and when some of them said there was no way to complete
a "200-page user guide" in the times specified, I replied, "So who said the
user guides have to be 200 pages long?" Within the first year, page counts
fell by an average of 30%, and you can bet your next paycheck that the
product managers made sure all their most critical topics were still
covered.>>
YEEAAA! Management by (business) objectives also works in technical
communications! Page counts only help to try to scope a project, and then
used with a grain of salt (or common sense). Page counts shouldn't be a
measure of productivity. We, as a business community, are obsessed with
measuring "stuff." It's commonplace to be measuring the wrong thing!
Sherry
Sherry Michaels
Michaels & Associates, LLC
11639 E. Wethersfield Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85259
480-614-8440 Local
877-614-8440 Toll free
480-614-2775 FAX
www.docntrain.com
ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!
RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
