The goals are somewhat mixed. One is to get the dishes clean. One is to let people with severe compulsions have an outlet for them. One is ecological, getting the most bang for the buck in terms of water, detergent etc. Whoever loads the dishwasher should get to do it however he/she wants as long as the dishes come out clean and a reasonable amount of resources are used. It is not necessarily everyone's goal, especially when they have children, jobs, etc., to see how many dishes they can get in at one time. mg