Re: how long does "fixing" a document take

[<neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

Two pages a day, exactly.

Unless of course there are any difficulties, such as:
 - Steps left out
 - Combinations of actions that lead to stubs that were never
   implemented, or into coding errors that lead to crashes that
   you cannot document and for which you must invent workarounds.
 - Unreasonable defaults that always need to be respecified.
 - Ambiguously incomprehensible original material that resolves
   into three additional pages.
 - Unavailability of the SME to help resolve the ambiguity.
 - Other ordinary tech-writer stuff that isn't just pounding the
   keyboard.

And there are always difficulties.

Carrie Baker asks:

> I am sure that this is a question where the answer is "it depends",
> but I would like to get a sort of estimate to see if I am in the
> correct direction.
> A programmer for whom English is not their mother tongue, wrote an
> internal document explaining to sales staff how to demonstrate a
> complex application. (it is not a user guide, but more in the
> application note direction).
> The document is around 31 pages long and covers over 20 screens some
> of which are divided into additional panes etc.
> I was asked to edit this.
> Apart from editing, I am running the data he used, with the
> application to make sure no steps are missed out.
> 
> All in all, I am fixing the English, adding formatting, (headings,
> numbers whatever is required), and making sure the whole thing makes
> sense and works.
> 
> This seems to be taking me a long time. How long do you think
> something like this should take??


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