THE ROLE OF TASK-ANALYSIS IN CAPTURING REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERFACE DESIGN

Recently, the role of task analysis in design has been brought into qu estion. It has been argued, for example, that task analysis leads to t he non-creative redesign of existing artefacts. In this paper, we offe r a view of task analysis that resolves this problem. In particular, w e argue that by focusing upon the analysis of user/operator goals rath er than an existing task implementation, task analysis encourages nove l and apt design. A reformulation of hierarchical task analysis is off ered, based on the sub-goal template (SGT) scheme. The SGT scheme prov ides a notation for goal-oriented task analysis and defines an appropr iate level at which task analyses can inform the design process withou t constraining it to existing task implementations. The SGT scheme is compared with the systems analysis-based design methodology SSADM and the advantages of each approach are reviewed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e B.V.