"Recognitional capacity"--the ability to recognize when procedures apply--is needed in order to perform tasks; this capacity cannot be replaced by higher-level procedures. As a result, guidebooks that attempt to provide step-by-step procedural accounts of task performance face an insurmountable barrier. User guides that attempt to show novices how to perform procedural tasks will be most successful; user guides applied to tasks that involve recognitional capacity, with the goal of developing high levels of proficiency, will be least successful. In the latter case, the information gathered will be voluminous and difficult to present, and will still be criticized as insufficient. The way to overcome the barrier presented by recognitional capacity is by approaching it directly, perhaps as a type of analogical reference, rather than by trying to reduce it to a set of procedures. Six references are listed. (Author/JD)