Less than 10 ideas. Any more will either not be understood or items — Page 267, Lesson 439

I want to walk you through a key principle of effective crew communication and coordination. Let's start with a simple but powerful rule about briefing content: keep it to less than 10 ideas. Any more than that, and the items either won't be understood or will simply be forgotten. So if your standard briefing version is too long, it's better to split it into sections and start again later rather than cramming everything in at once. Now, let's look at the three qualities a briefing must have. First, it should be individual — tailored for each specific flight. Second, it must be understood by all crew members. And third, it needs to be agreed upon. The idea here is that a simple but well-understood plan of action, supported by everyone, is preferable to a plan that might be brilliant but is misunderstood. There's also an important note for the aircraft Commander: during briefings, you should always emphasize those areas that require crew cooperation. Now let's move into the different types of coordination, which are described as three categories of communication used to achieve coordination. The first is Redundant Actions. This is a strict duplication of actions to achieve a total result. It's an exceptional case where the Captain and Co-pilot carry out the same actions to achieve the same short-term effect. For example, both pilots might use a flight control to avoid an obstacle. In this scenario, communication is used to coordinate the completion of that action. The second type is Coaction. Coaction requires less precise coordination than redundant actions. Here, individuals work in the same environment on the same 'site' and share the same general objectives, but they are relatively independent in carrying out their own actions. Coaction is most often seen in the relationship between the flight crew and the cabin crew. Communications in this scenario mainly serve to maintain group solidarity. An example would be a Captain briefing their Cabin Crew prior to an announcement about a diversion or inclement weather. So coaction can be defined as working in parallel toward a common goal. That figure illustrates the interactive style of these coordination types. So to summarize: you have redundant actions where both pilots duplicate the same action, and coaction where different crew members work independently but toward the same goal, with communication serving to keep everyone aligned.