Re: How many product releases do you support in a given year?

[Julie Stickler <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Your writers release a title a day?!?!

I cannot even comprehend how a company could need a new product manual on a
daily basis.  Does every customer get their own customized documentation
and you never reuse anything?


On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Alan Salo (Ariens Plant 1) <
asalo -at- ariens -dot- com> wrote:

> The small team that I manage consisting of two technical writers and two
> illustrators released an average of just under 600 titles per year over
> the past five years. This includes domestic and international owner's
> manuals, parts catalogs, kit instruction sheets, safety decals and field
> service bulletins. Needless to say we are all about production. As my
> main mission is management, my writing time is at maximum 10% on a good
> week so the team carries the load. I occasionally have to utilize a
> freelance writer when production dates make it necessary.
>
> Cheers,
> Alan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+asalo=ariens -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+asalo=ariens -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
> Of Julie Stickler
> Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 1:56 PM
> To: Technical Writing
> Subject: How many product releases do you support in a given year?
>
> So, I'm writing up notes for my annual evaluation and it occurs to me
> that in the past year I've supported an almost ridiculous number of
> product releases.
>
> Back when I was doing waterfall software development, I might have a
> product release once a quarter, with only one really being a major
> feature release and the rest being smaller releases that were generally
> patches/bug fixes.
>
> Now that I'm doing Agile (and supporting multiple products) it seems
> like every time I turn around I have another release deadline.
>
> So my question for you folks today is, how many product releases a year
> are you expected to provide documentation for?
>
>
>
> --
> Julie Stickler
> http://heratech.wordpress.com/
> Blogging about Agile and technical writing
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-- 
Julie Stickler
http://heratech.wordpress.com/
Blogging about Agile and technical writing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Doc-To-Help 2014 v1 now available. SharePoint 2013 support, NetHelp enhancements, and more. Read all about it.

Learn more: http://bit.ly/NNcWqS

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

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

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