Task Analysis

Why?

When your product has to support people performing some kind of task (for example repairing a car), a task analysis will help you and other designers understand the task better.

How?

Use observations of and interviews of people performing a specific task. Try to determine if there are guidelines for the task. Determine which actions and cognitive processes take place. Analyse your findings to determine a task classification and outcomes, sequencing of tasks and sub-tasks.

Ingrediënts

• An interest to know details about jobs or tasks.
• A modelling tool suitable for tasks and flows.
• A suitable format, for example a swimming lane diagram.
• A sense of task 'hierarchy'.

In practice

Projects that deliver task specific software, such as in the military or (factory) control rooms, cannot do without task analysis.