Re: Estimating Quality Documentation?

Subject: Re: Estimating Quality Documentation?
From: "Mark Baker" <mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 10:41:17 -0400

>I don't see the contradiction in basing estimates on time per page and
saying
>quality docs are as short as possible.

This idea that "quality docs are a short as possible" has been bandied about
quite a bit in this discussion, but it is really another case of misplaced
metrics. Quality documentation has a mean time to productivity that is as
short as possible. This is not the same thing as being physically as short
as possible.

Sometimes more is less. More instruction may lead to faster comprehension.
Quality has nothing to do with length. Short is not better than long, or
vice versa.

Usable is better than unusable. That is all ye know on earth, and all ye
need to know.


---
Mark Baker
Senior Technical Communicator
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com






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