Re: Document Length

[Richard Wallen <rgwallen -at- JUNO -dot- COM>]

Greetings Steve n Co.!

Preferably a procedure should not contain much over 3 to 5 pages of
instructions defined as steps. There will be times when it will be larger
due to the complicated issues being addressed. Also, depending on the
client, they may want to combine procedures against your recommendations.
I had one set of complicated startup procedures I packaged together that
ranged from 4 to 11 pages of instruction for five work areas within a
single process plant. I created a checklist so the supervisor or console
operator could follow and/or coordinate the progress of the outside
personnel performing the steps.  The site superintendent decided, against
my recommendation, to combine the 5 procedures into a single startup
procedure. This made a 36 page document which was only good for training
purposes and not used by the people that needed it the most. It is very
hard to write procedures for those that will implement it and please
those that need it for legal requirements.

As far as using subsets, if it is at all possible to break it up and
refer to (if that is acceptable by your client) then do so at logical
points. Without details, it is hard to give detailed analogies.

On Tue, 2 Mar 1999 18:34:07 -0500 Steve Page <spage -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com>
writes:
>Of all you procedure writers out there, how long should a policy and a
>procedure document be?  Also, if I am writing about a complex process,
>how long should that document be and when would I break it up into
>subsets?
>

Richard Wallen

We're still gaining on it... a little more each day
Sharing ideas that matter... with people who care!
mailto:rgwallen -at- juno -dot- com

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