The importance of task analysis in Usability Context Analysis - designing for fitness for purpose
Stella Mills · Behaviour and Information Technology · 2000
Usability Context Analysis (UCA) suggests the use of task analysis in order to characterize the user's requirements of a product. This paper shows that a task analysis is a necessary (but not sufficient) part of a usability context analysis. Further, it is argued that it is necessary to carry out the task analysis to sufficient depth to establish fitness for purpose of the product under test. In addition, the analyst should have some knowledge of the application domain so that from various task sequences, that giving the best user-product task match can be used. The paper indicates by using an example of an echosounder that discrepancies of use can be highlighted through this task-based approach to usability context analysis.