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Subject:Estimating hours per page From:Richard Mateosian <srm -at- C2 -dot- ORG> Date:Sat, 4 Feb 1995 08:16:15 -0800
>JoAnn Hackos, in "Managing Your Documentation Projects", recommends
>using about 5 hours per page. That seems really high to me.
Sometimes it's hard looking the clients in the eye and telling them that a
250-page manual is going to cost them $75,000. However, that's about the
same as their burdened cost of having a programmer spend six months doing
it, and you're likely to do a much better job.
Five hours per page assumes that you can get the necessary information
efficiently. If nobody knows the answers and you have to become the expert
before you write the manual, it may take a week per page. ...RM
Richard Mateosian Technical Writer in Berkeley CA srm -at- c2 -dot- org