![]() | MSc-IT Study Material June 2010 Edition Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town | MIT Notes Home | Edition Home | |
We have already summarised most of the important uses of task analysis:
A source for generating documentation. By structuring the understanding of the task, it becomes much easier to structure a presentation of the task, in user-oriented documentation, whether that be structured around procedures, actions or concepts.
A source for designing tutorial material. Like documentation, good, user-centred tutorial material that helps users learn to use a product is based around their tasks, so task analysis is a good starting point for designing effective tutorial material.
Guiding system design. By focusing attention on the current system (and its strengths and weaknesses), task analysis can be used to design new interactions that have evolved in a reasonably natural way from existing practices, and to identify domain objects that need to be represented at the interface, and ways of grouping those objects.
Requirements capture. Although task analysis refers to the existing system, rather than the planned one, it can help to structure requirements acquisition, particularly as users will often refer to the existing (familiar) system when discussing future requirements. In particular users may not find it easy to list features that should remain unchanged from the existing system, so the task analysis can help focus on what should stay the same as well as what should change.
To summarise: task analysis is necessary for bringing domain knowledge into the design, to make a new design or procedure as familiar and sensible and hence learnable as possible. Task analysis is not easy but then, neither is good design! It takes practice, and it also important to understand both the uses and the limitations of the various task analysis techniques available.