Podcast
Questions and Answers
What does hierarchical task analysis (HTA) primarily focus on?
Which of the following best describes the goal of HTA?
Why is a detailed understanding of users' tasks necessary in HTA?
What does a more complete task analysis involve according to the HTA approach?
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How are tasks expressed in a hierarchical task analysis?
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What aspect does a coarse hierarchical task analysis fail to communicate?
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Which of the following is NOT part of the process in applying hierarchical task analysis?
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Why might illustrations be provided when documenting the 'Complete address' task?
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What is the primary purpose of a hierarchical task analysis?
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Why is it beneficial to keep the plan separate from the tasks in a hierarchical task analysis?
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Which of the following statements is true about competing approaches in hierarchical task analysis?
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How does hierarchical task analysis support user experience design?
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What can a hierarchical task analysis provide when comparing different design approaches?
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What does hierarchical task analysis help capture regarding design?
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What role does hierarchical task analysis play in user experience design reuse?
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What level of abstraction can hierarchical task analysis help teams understand?
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What is the first step in constructing a hierarchical task analysis?
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Why is it important to identify constraints in hierarchical task analysis?
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What does 'calculate criticality' involve in hierarchical task analysis?
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If a goal is deemed not critical, what should be done next according to the steps?
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What is the ultimate aim of setting goals in hierarchical task analysis?
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Which step entails recording the analysis once all task elements are considered?
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What is the purpose of generating hypotheses in the task analysis process?
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In hierarchical task analysis, what follow-up step occurs if multiple goals exist after setting the initial goal?
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What should be done if the current performance of the goal is deemed unacceptable?
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During the cost-benefit analysis, what is necessary to decide?
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What should be recorded after generating design hypotheses?
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What is included in the re-description step?
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What action should be considered if a design solution is ruled out based on costs?
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What should be done after succeeding in challenging the constraints?
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Which step involves determining the appropriateness of operations?
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What might indicate the need for further analysis in Steps 5 and 6?
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What is the primary focus of logical decomposition in Hierarchical Task Analysis?
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Which of the following statements best describes the logical equivalence rule in Hierarchical Task Analysis?
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What does the P x C rule in Hierarchical Task Analysis primarily address?
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In Hierarchical Task Analysis, why is the specification of plans important?
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Which of these best describes a characteristic of a hierarchical representation in Hierarchical Task Analysis?
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Study Notes
Hierarchical Task Analysis
- Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) is a method to analyze tasks in a hierarchical structure, moving from top-level goals down to detailed operations.
- HTA allows for easier understanding of tasks and process in Human Factors and user experience.
- HTA involves describing an activity in terms of goals, subgoals, operations and plans.
- HTA’s goal is to create a task hierarchy that lists steps needed to complete high-level tasks.
- HTA is a technique to apply to user experience, by identifying primary goals, detailing steps to accomplish goals, and optimizing procedures.
Applying HTA to User Experience
- HTA requires detailed understanding of users’ tasks.
- Example HTA can be broken down into subtasks, expressed using a numbering scheme.
- HTA can be used to illustrate the subtask level, showing how they are related.
- HTA can also include screen illustrations to put interactions in context.
- HTA plans can be used to describe how subtasks are assembled to achieve a specific goal, with relevant conditions for subtasks.
- HTA plans should be flexible, allowing for different plans based on user experience, like a newbie vs. experienced user.
Benefits of HTA
- HTA allows for clear comparison of different approaches using common language and consistent methods.
- HTA supports user experience design by ensuring effective design.
- HTA enables designers to understand system functionality at different levels.
- HTA supports user experience design reuse by facilitating the use of user experience design patterns for high-level interactions.
Steps in Constructing an HTA
- Start with setting goals, focusing on the main work goal.
- Identify constraints, understanding factors that affect design options.
- Calculate criticality of each task step, determining if it requires further decomposition.
- Ceasing re-description: If goal isn't critical, don’t decompose it further.
- Generate hypotheses or design fixes for areas with unacceptable performance.
- Cost-benefit analysis: Determine if the benefit of a design hypothesis is worth the cost.
- Record analysis: Capture design hypotheses both accepted and rejected.
- Re-description: Include subordinate operations and plans specifying conditions for each operation.
- Challenge constraints: If constraints limit suitable solutions, try to revise them.
- Clean up: Ensure HTA follows established rules such as hierarchical representation, logical decomposition, and logical equivalence.
Rules for HTA
- HTA should be a hierarchical representation of operations and sub-operations.
- Logical Decomposition Rule: Each level of HTA should be a logical decomposition of its higher level, not a temporal order.
- Logical Equivalence: Sub-operations combined with a plan should be logically equivalent to the operation.
- Specification of Plans: Plans should be specified at each level of re-description.
- P x C Rule: This rule is used to determine when to stop decomposing operations.
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Description
Explore the principles of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and its application in optimizing user experience. This quiz covers the goal-setting, task breakdowns, and the relationship between tasks and subtasks using HTA. Test your knowledge of how HTA aids in creating effective user interactions and understanding user needs.