Large FM doc set with many, many nested and/or multiple conditions

[Ron Van de crommert]

I've recently inherited a doc set that uses 50 conditions, most of which are nested and/or multiple. The previous writer thought this was the best way to support 30 developers and 26 guides. I'm finding that this method is seriously prone to error as evidenced by text for guide A displaying in guide B, broken cross-references, etc. What is the highest number of FrameMaker conditions that you have personally used in an authoring set? Do you have any data that suggests a limit to FrameMaker conditions?  I'd like to rework everything into perhaps 5 conditions and output fewer guides, w/ callouts, but I'm getting resistance from dev that I'm shortchanging users. I'm hopeful that your help will help me to point out the craziness of the current setup. Theoretically, it makes sense, but the practical application of such a set up is dizzying. 

Thanks!
--Ron