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Subject:Re: Estimate for On-Line Project From:Jane Torpie <Jane_Torpie_at_III-HQ -at- RELAY -dot- PROTEON -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 21 Sep 1993 11:58:00 EST
One of the writers in our group recently attended one of William Horton's
seminars. Here is some info she gathered there:
Online doc is a team effort. The team spends more time making decisions
and convincing others than with hardcopy projects.
Your first online doc project will take 3 times as long as if you did the
same project in hardcopy. By your fifth project, it should take about the
same amount of time. It will never take less time.
It takes 2 1/2 to 3 years to change your writing style for online.
Authoring a single source file for both online & paper takes about 1 1/4
times as long as authoring for just one.
If your need to produce both online and paper: Design for online and then
derive the paper doc.
If you need to phase in online doc:
First put detailed reference info online
then put user task-oriented procedures online
then put tutorial online.
Takes 5-7 years to create a full online doc set.
