Procedures: The Sacred Cow Blocking the Road?
http://www.stc.org/confproceed/1998/PDFs/00141.PDF

Hughes, Michael A. and Loren Burke
STC Proceedings
1998

Abstract:

This paper questions the dominance of procedures in paper and online computer documentation and argues that the types of behavior and conditions demanded by stepped instructions are not consistent with typical user behavior. The authors suggest that the following hierarchy of information needs more accurately describes what users want to know when they ask, “How do I:” (a) What can I do? (b) Where can I do it? (c) What are the rules or principles? (d) What are the parts and their functions of the interface that does it? and (e) What are the steps?