Learn Before
Concept
Attributes of a hierarchical task analysis diagram (HTA)
- The overall number of tasks: Are there too many? Perhaps there are opportunities to create a design that could streamline the process and remove some steps. The frequency of tasks: How often are certain tasks performed? Are some tasks filled with repetition?
- The cognitive complexity of the tasks: What mental processes (i.e., thoughts, judgments, and decisions) are needed to complete a given task? (A whole branch of task analysis known as cognitive task analysis is concerned with these questions and with making visible the mental schemas and processes). If there are a lot of mental operations involved, the difficulty of the overall task increases, and the analyst should consider the likelihood of user error.
- The physical requirements of the task: What does the user need to physically do? Could this physical requirement affect user performance and comfort? And how could these physical requirements affect users with disabilities?
- The time taken to perform each task: Activity sampling or theoretical modeling (such as GOMS) can be used to estimate how long tasks would take users to complete.
0
1
Updated 2021-01-30
Tags
Design Science