Lost the thread... seemed to be: "How many steps in your personal chunk?"

[Peter Gold <pgold -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

I think this is a trick question, even if it's unintentionally so. The
way one reads steps and chunks the information is a calculation that
depends on the way the material's presented and what one brings to it.

For me, it depends on:

  * How much is new and unfamiliar
  * How much (I kid myself) is old hat and I can skip with no setbacks
  * How holistically the task is introduced (homage to Muir's VW book here:
      e.g. "Here's what you will be doing, the tools you'll need, the
      time it should take, the danger you may face, safety steps to consider,
     how many friends you will need to carry a heavy thing (or take you to
     the chiropracter afterwards)" (paraphrased)

If I am not given advance information or preparation and have no personal
clues, I use a combination of skimming and detail reading to scope out
the whole topic, then make more passes at the areas that seem to need
attention.

Peter Gold
pgold -at- netcom -dot- com

> In response to Eric J. Ray:
> >I'd even be interested in
> >anecdotal evidence -- how many of the people on TECHWR-L
> >read all steps, remember them, then apply them?
> >How many go one step at a time? >>

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