Task analysis is an important aspect of the User Testing and Research process in User Experience Design and Human-computer interaction. This talk covers the basis of Task Analysis and it's relation to Intuition Factors in software design.

1. Task Analysis and Intuition Factors
in Human-computer Interaction
26 September 2017
Champaign, Illinois, USA

2. Task Analysis Basis
- Human Factors and Psychology
- Element of a UX Practice for User Testing
- Used to conduct research or test against hypotheses

3. What is Task Analysis
The observation (understanding) of how a particular task
(any task) is accomplished.

4. Task Analysis in User Research
- The practice of User Experience Design involves a variety of research
and testing procedures, User Research
- Task Analysis is a procedure used within the User Research and Testing
process to accomplish the following:
- Observe controlled variable set
- User accomplishes a task (e.g., saving a file)
- Testing existing design hypothesis
- User understands X when accomplishing a task, so X must be
present (e.g., using a floppy disk icon to indicate cloud sync)

5. User Research
- Task Analysis is used in User Research to find
quantitative and qualitative measures for a particular
software design
- Testing: How does the user perform the task?

6. Intuition Factors (Task Analysis Test User*)
- Personal Instinct
- What seems right to me as a user
- Experience Driven
- What has been successful in the past
- Learned Usability
- This procedure has worked for me before
- Perceived Usability
- How do I think the software creator
wants me to accomplish this task *User is test subject

7. Intuition Factors are a two-way street
- Software creators utilize intuition factors to get in
the mind of the user
- Users utilize intuition factors to get in the mind of the
creator

8. Intuition Factors (Software Creator)
- Personal Instinct
- What seems right to me as a designer
- Experience Driven
- What has been successful in the past
- Learned Usability
- What has become a standard within the software user base
- Perceived Usability
- What do I think the user will do in this scenario

9. Great Design is based on data, partially
User interface design is a combination of
data collected from user testing/research
and intuition
One part data, one part intuition

10. Data is more than Task Analysis
- User Research Results
- Task Analysis
- A/B Testing
- Heatmaps
- Eytracking
- User Stories And more...

11. Task Analysis in practice
- Part of the User Testing process:
- Controlled environment for recording
- Set a clearly defined task
- Observe user closely
- Ask user to speak their thoughts audibly
- Discuss the session afterwards

12. The Analysis (the deliverable)
- Create a report
- Often delivered in the format of an email or .PDF
- May include video recording or screencast
- Include all aspects of the test
- Include details of the subject
- Solve for “Was the task successfully completed”

13. The Analysis (the deliverable)
- Reports should include:
- Success or failure
- Duration
- Thought process
- Final user flow
- Environment
- Operating System
- Hardware
- Physical location
- Complexity
- Previous training
- Instruction
- Outside factors
- Unknown unknowns
- Other factors
- Known unknowns

14. Task Analysis and Prototyping
- Prototyping is a great way to segment task analysis
- Remote (online) user testing with prototypes often
require aspects of Task Analysis
- Understand that intuition factors may interfere with
task analysis and user testing subject bias

15. Closing
- The User Experience Design process involves User
Research and Testing
- Task Analysis falls under User Research and Testing
- Analyze task with the two-way intuition factors in mind
- Task Analysis can help develop and refine the User
Experience Design process

16. Alex Shirazi
@alexshirazi
alexshirazi.com