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Subject:Time cards From:Camille Costa <ccosta01 -at- SPRYNET -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 22 Aug 1998 06:38:32 -0700
Hi Kalpana:
We kept track of time spent per hour on each project in my last job. We entered the info
at the end of the day into an Excel spreadsheet by document number. Our senior tech
writer could then use the spreadsheet to write an annual report for the product
managers. I thought it was a pretty good way to monitor the progress of the numerous
interelated documents our staff produced, especially when you figure that the whole
cycle was dependant on the input of many individuals and regulated, to a certain extent,
by ISO 9000. But as I've said, this was my only professional experience.
We also wrote it on our weekly timecards. This helped the accounting department track
indirect costs associated with the product our plant manufactured. Again, this was my
first tech writing job, so my thought on this was/is that the time-tracking practice
depends upon the kind of product you are documenting, or the accounting system, or the
industry in which you work, or a combination of the above. There's a creative element
involved, as there is in engineering the product, but the writing is associated with a
commodity for sale in the marketplace and it's eventually going to be distilled into an
income statement and balance sheet.
