I always used the three-click rule. However, the click rules are more of a general guideline, not the result of hard UI testing. Real UI testing shows that users rarely give up looking or become impatient after three clicks.
The click rule has its value in guiding designers to create logical, consistent, efficient, user-focused navigation, which itself is far more important than the actual number of clicks.
I agree, but the phone company was hell-bent on two clicks for the inTRAnet...I didn’t work on any Intranet sites then...that might have been three clicks.