Function allocation is a core activity of the human–machine systems discipline. Sixty years ago, Paul Fitts marked the outset of function allocation research with an 11-statements list. Since then numerous function allocation methods have been proposed, but strikingly the seminal Fitts list spans the entire history of this domain and continues to be cited today. In this paper, we intend to explain why the Fitts list is such a pervasive factor in function allocation research, despite having received extensive criticism. We invoke philosophy of science, and we show that the Fitts list fulfils six important criteria for appraising scientific theories: plausibility, explanatory adequacy, interpretability, simplicity, descriptive adequacy, and generalisability. Furthermore, we show that the Fitts report identified issues which decades later became known as the ironies of automation. We conclude that the Fitts list is an adequate approximation that captures the most important regularity of automation, and that the Fitts report represents an unprecedented intellectual achievement that has succeeded in its pioneering objective.