It need not specify everything the advisee must do, it need only address some aspect or part of the advisee's behavior. It can suggest action or modify action, rather than specify action. It need not solve the whole problem, only part. It does not need to be given or received in a strict sequential order. It can critique past behavior or serve as guidelines for future behavior.
Advice is ongoing.
Although advice may be in the form of a conversation between the advisor and advisee, it assumes that both the advisor and advisee are active simultaneously. This is quite unlike traditional query-response computer interfaces, that assume that either the human is working or the computer is working, but not both at the same time. Advice assumes that both the advisor and the advisee will continue to operate even in the absence of the advice, and the goal of the advice is improvement of the advisee's behavior. Agents and advice Intelligent software agents have recently become a popular movement for extending the human interface beyond traditional direct manipulation interfaces. Someone in such a role can often provide services that are personalized to an individual's needs and desires, and they are often most appreciated when the agent can provide them without even being asked.