Estimating for More Fun and Greater Profit
John Hedtke, Principal Consultant at Double Tall Consulting, said that knowing how to estimate is one of the most important skills we have as technical communicators.
A good estimate contains a description of the project's deliverables, the time it will take to create the deliverables, the cost, and the confidence rate.
A documentation plan states the goals, specifics the details, and describes the process. Most important to have a good outline.
"Metric" is just a fancy way to measure something, and can be simple or complex. Nothing we do that we cannot measure in some way.
An estimate is a guess. A metric is a measure that is (hopefully) accurate. An estimate that uses metrics for its data may be a WAG or even a SWAG but it's still a guess.
Personal metrics measure how long it takes you to do something.
Rarely do we work on anything more than 15-020 minutes at a stretch. The act of logging keeps you honest. Logging also keeps you more honest.
As you gather data, you can find out when you're most productive, when you're interrupted the most, times better for meetings/phones calls/administrivia, and how productive you are overall.
If you're a contractor, 80-85% of your time is productive. Captives tend to work at 60-70%. Adding a day log tracks what you did and how you feel about it. 10-15% to your productivity can make a big difference.
Day log tracks what you have done and how you feel about it. It is subjective. Identifies rhythms over the course of a project and helps predict cycles for future projects.
Keep your day log private. Be complete, honest, clear. It's like a diary.
Doc plan, time log, and day log gives you the infor to build your estimating spreadsheet.
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