Estimating Projects

Here is a general guideline showing the amount of work involved when creating various types of documentation.

Keep in mind that all documentation is different, each project has a varying degree of difficulty, research required, and graphics to be designed. Other factors include the format in which the project will be delivered and the degree of participation by other teams, such as Marketing. These estimates are based on a single writer producing the documentation.

User's Guide- 5 hours per page, including research

Reference Guide - 4 hours per page, including research

API Guide - 3-7 hours per function, depending on research and methodology

Online help (traditional)- 5 hours per topic

Online help (updating) - 1.5 hours per topic

Context-sensitive help - 3-4 hours per topic

Web pages - 8 hours per page

Indexing - highly dependent on the type of material and level of indexing required

Editing, light - 3000 words per hour

Editing, substantive - 750 words per hour

Due to consistency issues, the use of multiple writers may actually increase the amount of time required.

Extremely technical information or information that must be acquired without availability to the product will also increase time requirements.

These estimates should be used strictly as a guideline. There are several good books on project estimation available at local bookstores.