Estimating time to author software help manual?

[John Garison]

> Jennifer C. Bennett wondered: <<I've been researching ways to estimate 
> the time it will take to write a software user manual.  I thought I'd 
> ask this question here on TECHWR_L>>


At the risk of being flippant, I generally reply to such questions with 
the old punch line "How much time do you have?" Then the trick is to 
cram as much important stuff as possible into the desired format within 
the allotted time. Rarely if ever do you have the luxury of having 
enough time to figure out what to include; usually it's figuring out 
what you can afford to exclude.

My 2¢,

John Garison