Less is more?

I have just been reviewing some procedures for a client.  They have had some pretty unwieldy and unworkable documents in the past and are keen to move forward to a clearer and slimmer suite of documents but this inevitably raises the question 'but how much detail do we need to include?'. 

Sometimes I think that there is a perception that auditors have some sort of secret formula which dictates x page for y procedure and I always advise my clients that they need to provide as much information as is required to allow them to operate the procedure properly.  A 3 box flowchart which covers document control is probably not going to provide a lot of control for a larger business which issue documents manually but might work perfectly well for a small business which manages all documentation via an intranet. 

Above all I believe that less is not always more but that huge amount of detail will be likely to result in procedures which remain unread.  So less can be more but make sure that the less does give sufficient control to allow you to run your business effectively and efficiently, and that you tick all the requirements of the relevant management standard.