Rightly (or wrongly), I used always to set the spool up 40% manually, then run the throttles in parallel up to a bit below the nominated thrust .. and then select the buttons to finish the final setting for checking by the crew. I saw two advantages .. maintenance of a practiced skill and I can never recall any untidy acceleration such as one sees, occasionally with the automatics. I don't see that my approach was inconsistent with the manual's requirements and, certainly, no-one ever queried me.
Quite happy to field any comments ...