One way to determine time is to start keep tracking of your own time. When you start working on a project, write down the start time in a spread sheet. When you finished that session, write it down. So for example, you could have a spread sheet that looks like the following:
Manual 1234 10/5 10:00 - 10:45 2:30-4:30 10/6 11:00-12:00 2:30 - 5:00 Through doing this, you can measure how long something takes you. For example, by doing this, I determined that it took me 12 hours to do a Quick Start Guide so obviously, I could only do 4 per week. When the company wanted me to do 8, I justified the time and they hired an intern. Thank you, Gillian -----Original Message----- From: framers-bounces+gflato=nanometrics....@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+gflato=nanometrics.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of John Posada Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 10:00 AM To: Courtney Collins; Framers List Subject: Re: Formula for Tech Writing Lead Time? --- Courtney Collins <courtney_shay_collins at yahoo.com> wrote: > Is anyone aware of a formula for how many words/pages a Tech > Writer can produce in a given period of time? I am being asked to > take on additional manuals and upper management wants some numbers > to justify additional head count that will be needed. I can > probably come up with an estimate based on what we produce today, > but I was wondering if some kind of standard already exists. Courtney...think about it. There are so many factors that determine how much a writer can write, that I couldn't even begin to figure our how to quantify it. Off the top of my head: Level of experience Quality of the effort Level of SME support Writing environment Subject complexity Familiarity of the subject Definition of "Produce" (first draft? Packaged book?) Any one of these factors can affect to a factor of 2 or 3 just on their own. Besides...would my formula determine how quickly you work? If just because my formula said you should be producing 20% more...would it make it so? John Posada Senior Technical Writer "I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is." _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as gflato at nanometrics.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/gflato%40nanometrics .com Send administrative questions to lisa at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. This message (including any attachments) may contain confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose. If you are not the intended recipient, delete this message. If you are not the intended recipient, disclosing, copying, distributing, or taking any action based on this message is strictly prohibited.
