Thanks for the replies, everyone.
I did come up with a productivity test to compare the tools as a simple UML drawing tool. I nominated 6 diagrams from a UML workbook, and reproduced them in both Visio and EA, timing how long each diagram took. (I don't have access to Rose, so I can't run this through the same test yet... I'm planning to, though.) I took some efforts to get the diagrams matching the appearance of the ones in the book, but did allow variations native to the applications.
Diagram | # Elements | E.A Time | Visio Time | EA Efficiency |
Use Case Model | 31 | 8 | 27 | 70% |
Domain Model | 50 | 9 | 17 | 47% |
Class Model | 44 | 23 | 33 | 30% |
Robustness Diagram | 27 | 8 | Not available | N/A |
Sequence Diagram | 20 | 10 | 22 | 55% |
| | | | 51% |
Visio couldn't do Robustness diagrams in the UML portion. (I think it was available in a different diagram type, but then the benefits of Visio's UML connections, such as they are, would be lost.) Visio also lost marks in the Sequence diagram, since it was unable to efficiently add comments by the diagram (The comment icon was stuck in a default size, and I couldn't figure out how to effectively resize it.)
For real results, further testing would be needed. Ideally, we would get at least 5 users of a number of skill levels, and run them through the same tests. (I count myself as a proficient user of both applications.)
On the basis of these tests, I can comfortably claim EA as 50% more efficient than Visio as a UML drawing tool (plus being easier to use). This translates into significant saving really quickly.
There are still the benefits to be gained from
- not having to put stuff into Word.
- task lists
- code generation (although we don't get much of a chance to use this... silly ASP shops.

I'd still like to know if anyone's worked with Rational products... Is there any differentiation between Rational and EA other than the price? (And yes, that price differential is a big different.)
_
Michael Ruschena