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Subject:RE: Ratio - Development to Documentation Hours From:Megan Golding <mgolding -at- secureworks -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 10 Sep 2001 23:30:35 -0400
Kris asked:
"I've been asked to look for information regarding
estimating documentation (user guides, training
manuals and materials) time according to system
development time. My reaction is that it doesn't
make sense, but I don't want to tell the "powers
that be" that without checking. I've searched
the Internet and the archives, but haven't found
anything that is a direct ratio between the two.
The closest I've come is percent of total budget.
Has anyone heard of this method?
-----------
I've seen ratios of QA time versus Development time but never Development
time versus Documentation time. In my experience, the QA time is typically
estimated anywere from 50 to 100% of development time.
I have to disagree with your initial reaction that a doc/dev ratio doesn't
make sense. From a project planning perspective, this ratio would help with
early estimates. At the least, the ratio could be used to check the
estimates of developers against writers and vice versa. As a fan of metrics,
I think a ratio could certainly be developed for estimating time to document
from time to develop. More to the point of the question, though -- I've
never seen such a ratio.
Good luck!
Regards,
Megan Golding
Technical Writer
SecureWorks, Inc.
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