Structured task analysis: an instantiation of the MUSE method for usability engineering

The paper addresses the following criticisms of task analysis: its requirement for an existing system; its focus on analysis rather than design; its limited scope within the design cycle; its underspecification of the application domain; and its inadequate documentation of design outputs. Such criticisms constitute problems for the application of task analysis for design specification (as opposed to design evaluation).Solutions to these problems have emerged indirectly from the development of a structured method intended to rectify the typically late involvement of human factors in system development e.g., only at the evaluation stage. The paper describes how task analysis has been extended, structured and incorporated explicitly throughout the design cycle in the MUSE method for usability engineering.