How to Improve Your Design

with Task Analysis

Designers use task analysis as a systematic process to break down complex user tasks into smaller,
manageable steps. Examining each step in detail allows designers to understand users’ cognitive,
physical, and emotional demands when interacting with a product or service.

Since task analysis is a great way to understand how people interact with a product or service, you can
use it to identify user goals and behavior patterns, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of existing
designs or create new ones that better meet user needs. Task analysis can also help inform design
decisions about usability and accessibility.

Here is a step-by-step guide for task analysis to keep you on track while doing user research. You can
print it out and treat it like a handy process map.

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 Identify the task
1 you need to analyze
• Select a persona and scenario
for your user research, and perform
the task analysis process for each.
•Determine the user's goal
and their motivation to achieve it.

Break down this task

2 into smaller subtasks
Aim for 4–8 subtasks, as
having more than this
Draw a layered task may indicate that the goal
3 diagram of each subtask is too broad or abstract.
To visualize the subtasks involved
in a task, create a layered task
diagram using any notation of your
choice. There is no standard notation
for this diagram—feel free to use
the one that you are most
comfortable with.

4
5 Validate your analysis
Write the story
Review the analysis with
Complement your diagram someone who wasn’t involved
with a story that emphasizes in the breakdown but knows
the underlying reasons the tasks well enough to
for each step. check for consistency.

Pro Tip: Conduct a parallel task analysis with more than

one person to undertake the process simultaneously so
that you can compare and merge outputs into a final deliverable.

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Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the
Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix, transform, or build upon this template, you must distribute it under the same CC BY-SA license.
Task Analysis: An Example
Let’s take the example of Rosie, a home-visit doctor, and analyze the steps she needs to take to send
a message. Once the main task is layered into smaller, more manageable tasks, it becomes easier to
identify potential barriers and evaluate other design areas, such as accessibility or usability.

1. Identify the task you need to analyze: Send a text message to the hospital’s system

2. Break down the task into smaller subtasks:

• Open the messaging application on her mobile phone.
• Enter the hospital system’s unique number.
• Move to the text input field.
• Type the words “next patient.”
• Check the spelling (because it needs to be precise for the system to accept it).

3. Draw a layered task diagram of each subtask

Open messaging
application

Enter hospital Type in “next Check spelling Hit “send” Exit messaging
system number patient” message application

Find number
Type in number
in contact list

Hit “search” icon

Begin typing in
the saved number
contact name

Select from list of

matching names

4. Write the story: Rosie is a home-visit doctor who needs to update the hospital’s system with her
whereabouts via text message. Rosie uses a custom device that appears to be a mobile phone but
is tailored for use by doctors. To update her location, she sends a short SMS-like text with the words
“next patient” to a certain number.

5. Validate your analysis. You can share the diagram and story with someone familiar with the task,
for example, in this case, an on-field doctor or an admin support staffer.

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Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the
Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix, transform, or build upon this template, you must distribute it under the same CC BY-SA license.
 Task Analysis Checklist
Use this list as a guide while doing your own task analysis.

☐ 1. Identify the task you need to analyze

Determine the user’s goal and their motivation to achieve it.

☐ 2. Break down this task into smaller sub-tasks

Aim for 4–8 subtasks

☐ 3. Draw a layered task diagram of each subtask

Create a layered task diagram using any notation of your choice.

☐ 4. Write the story

Complement your diagram with a story that emphasizes the underlying
reasons for each step.

☐ 5. Validate your analysis

Review the analysis with someone who wasn’t involved in the
breakdown but knows the tasks well enough to check for consistency.

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Creative Commons BY-SA license: You are free to edit and redistribute this template, even for commercial use, as long as you give credit to the
Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix, transform, or build upon this template, you must distribute it under the same CC BY-SA license.
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Interaction Design Foundation. Also, if you remix, transform, or build upon this template, you must distribute it under the same CC BY-SA license.