I'll speak as one who was OCD about the starting seven (to the point you know well, where it takes you hours just to get to the embark screen...)
I used to do this, but I found there just wasn't all that much difference to my untrained eye. Heck, other than my leader (who, as my bookkeeper and broker, I had to go look for every time a caravan showed up) I initially didn't even really note any of their names, let alone attributes. So, slowly, I worried less and less about attributes, until finally I was just randomly assigning. "Ok, dwarf 1 is leader, 2 is doc, etc etc".
I'm actually coming back from the don't-give-a-damn edge a little - I've had some forts last long enough to have problems with the dwarf I picked as leader having a liking for some super rare material I can't get, which causes issues later, so now I've been finding a dwarf who likes common things (or things I think I have a good chance of getting/producing) and making them leader. After reading the thread, I htink I'll go ahead and picksomeone with a liking for a *good* metal to make my armor/weaponsith - that hadn't occurred to me before...
So, yeah, I have to admit that I've gotten past my OCD about the attributes. Of course, I still have my OCD about starting locations, fortress setup, and just about everything else, but hey...
As far as the start, I take:
For things:
- I remove the anvil. I never get metal production up before the first caravan hits anyway, so I just buy one from the first caravan to save points.
- One pair each of dogs and cats - the initial breeding pair. Cats for anti vermin (and, strangely enough, I like them) and dogs for war/guard animals.
- A recent addition - I've been trying to wean myself off of wood addiction (and heavily forested starts) and as a result, only taking one copper axe. New, and the jury is still out on this, but so far seems to be OK.
For the dwarves:
Leader/grower: judge intent-1, appraise-2, organizer-2, record keeper-2, grower-2, cook-1
Doc: diagnosis-2, the other 4 medical skills -1, brew-2, metalsmith-2
hunter/outdoorsman: ambush-3, butcher-3, tanner-1, woodcutter-2
Carpenter: carpenter-3, grower-3, weaponsmith-2, armorsmith-2
Rockworker: Mason-3, stonecrafter-3
miner: miner-5
miner: miner-5
This list is actually from before my removal of the axe, so there are a few more points available; I think I threw a mechanic-2 in there and added mason-3 to a miner (for life after mining), plus adding a level to stonecrafting and/or masonry on y primary stone guy.