In optimizing workspace performance, which writer should be first in the Navigator?

• A. Writer A
• B. Writer B
• C. Writer C
• D. We can't tell; the size of each feature matters.

Answer: (D)

The order of writers in the Navigator does not dictate runtime performance. In FME, features flow through the workspace according to the data dependency graph, and writers activate as features arrive. Multiple writers can run in parallel depending on the network, so simply placing a writer first in the Navigator doesn’t control how fast things execute. What matters for performance is how much data each writer will receive—the size and number of features per output path—and the cost of the upstream transformations feeding those paths. Without knowing those data characteristics, you can’t determine which writer would be best to be first. So the right conclusion is that we can’t tell; the size of each feature matters.