Guideline - Task Analysis

Phase - Discover

Milestone - Problem Discovery

Time Required - 2-3 hours per user goal

WHAT

Task analysis tells how a user will interact with an existing(competitor) product or service to reach a goal. This analysis traces a user’s possible paths through sequences of tasks using a Diagram. It also documents decision points. The tasks and decision points should represent steps taken by the user, as well as steps taken by the system.

source: Adobe XD - Task Analysis - UX with Example

source: Adobe XD - Task Analysis - UX with Example

WHY

To identify key areas to improve user experience in our competition's products or services. We illustrate in a solution-agnostic way the flow of tasks through which a user progresses to do a goal. They also help surface obstacles in the way of users achieving their goals.

HOW to do it?

  1. Prerequisites- User Research → Interviews or Contextual Inquiry
  2. Identify target users’ goals to analyze.
  3. For each goal, identify common scenarios, the tasks, and decisions that the user or system will perform. The idea is to check our understanding of the tasks by walking through the diagram with users (steps 4 & 5).
  4. document tasks using a simple numbered or bulleted list in this way:

  1. Create a diagram that includes each task & decision point a user does while trying to achieve that goal. The basic look is a mindmap of tasks, subtasks in a sequence. The diagram should cover the common scenarios identified in step 2.

  2. Present the diagram to a subject matter expert who knows the task(s) well enough to check for accuracy.

  3. Collaborate with users and/or experts, annotate the task flow diagram to pinpoint areas of interest, risk, or potential frustration.

Example Task Analysis for One Goal(Onboarding)

Diagram

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/86429bbc-ea2f-453d-bdfc-4f0703eee967/Untitled.png

Click on image to view Original size

Analysis

Inspirations & Additional resources