Task analysis

Why

Understand the structure, flow or other aspects of a certain task. Task analysis focuses on what end users actually do to achieve their goals.

How

You can collect information about the task using observations, interviews, formal task descriptions or manuals. These tasks can be (re)structured using decomposition, resulting in a hierarchical task analysis. Use standardised models to describe tasks. An activity diagram is a typical visual representation of the flow of an activity model.

Practice

Surveys are widely used to get an understanding of a target group’s preferences, habits or wishes. This method is quick and inexpensive, but it can be difficult to obtain reliable results. Getting sufficient responses is often challenging for companies, who may use gifts to persuade people to fill in the survey.

Ingredients

• A willingness to understand how a task is performed.
• A focus on the actual, rather than the imagined, actions of users.
• Knowledge of models to store and analyse the tasks.

Phases

• Analysis

Trade-offs

Read more about the trade-offs: Inspiration or Data / Expertise or Fit / Overview or Certainty.