One thing I’ve learned during all the years working in the quality management field is that in any organization, the number of documented procedures is directly proportional to the knowledge of the workers doing the activities.
If you have very trained personnel, you need few papers telling them how to perform their work.
If the standard (ISO 9001) didn’t require 6 areas for documented procedures, in my QMS, I wouldn’t have any. Normally I write in the Quality Manual the “policies” related to all requirements of the standard, but I avoid, as much as possible to have documented procedures or instructions.
We are not supposed to teach a civil engineer how to build a house because he learned that at University, the same way we should have papers written to tell a worker how to do his job. What we must have is highly trained personnel.
This is the reason why documented procedures trend to be shorter or even disappear during the evolution of every company. (In some cases they are there, but they are completely useful).