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Subject:RE: Number of steps per procedure From:BMcClain -at- centura -dot- com To:tesweeney -at- novadigm -dot- com Date:Wed, 18 Oct 2000 17:23:06 -0400
I think the 7 +/- 2 business is the number of discrete units of information
people can remember (e.g., from a bulleted list). A Navy friend of mine
says the "Rig for Dive" procedure in a submarine makes an airline pilot's
takeoff checklist look like child's play. I suggest that you allow the list
to be as long as it needs to be.
Bill McClain
("Writers are always selling somebody out." - Joan Didion)
-----Original Message-----
From: Tara English-Sweeney [mailto:tesweeney -at- novadigm -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 3:55 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Number of steps per procedure
I come from the school of thought that says you should limit the number of
steps in a procedure. The old rule of 7 +/- 2 is usually comfortable to me.
I'm flexible - and am ok going up to as many as 10 or 12 steps. However, in
my current project, there are 20+ steps to complete some of the procedures.
The one that prompted this email is actually 19 steps.
