Use a standard abbreviation if one exists, such as Co. or No.
Use the first letter in each syllable or of each compound word, for example MV for MoVe, SF for SubFile.
Make mnemonics unique and clear.
Use approximate synonyms to keep the number of mnemonics down. For instance, maintain, change, alter, and amend can all be described as change or CH.
Think of the CA 2E two-character mnemonic as an abbreviation of the three-character OS/400 mnemonic. Try to keep a one-to-one correspondence between two-and three-character mnemonics; for instance DS - DSP, CH - CHG, DA - DTA.
