Hierarchical Task Analysis Review
HTA reports available for download:
- Hierarchical Task Analysis: Developments, Applications and Extensions
- HTA: The Development and Use of Tools for Hierarchical Task Analysis in the UK Armed Forces and Elsewhere
What is this report about?
The report provides an analysis of the usage of, and methods employed for, the technique of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). It is the pre-cursor to the HFI- DTC 's development of a software tool to support the production of HTAs.
What problem does the report address?
It has become clear that there is no consistent pattern of use for the HTA technique within the Armed Forces, or – for that matter – outside them. It is also clear that some parts of the Armed Forces are not aware of HTA as a technique.
What is the benefit of this work?
This report is a pre-cursor to the development of a software tool to support HTA which will enable the formal advantages of HTA to be made available throughout the Armed Forces, and in a way that generates a standardised output.
Who should take note of it?
Anybody who may be interested in Task Analysis as an aid to the development of a training programme or for the formal understanding of some complex activity for reasons that are not immediately concerned with training such as Systems Design, HF Integration, Safety and Error Avoidance.
What is the report's status?
Final
What are the main issues addressed in the report?
- General Principles of HTA usage
- The use of HTA to facilitate a systems approach to training
- A review of the different forms of Task Analysis
- HTA practice in the Armed Forces and elsewhere
- The origins of Task Analysis
- Development of HTA
- Future requirements for software support of HTA
- Review and comparison of existing HTA Tool
What are the findings?
- There is no consistent pattern of use of the Hierarchical Task Analysis method with in the Armed forces
- HTA is used widely, but generally on very small analyses, and several other Task Analysis methods are also used. HTA could be used to effect the task decomposition mandated in JSP 502
- That it is not used can be seen as indicative of the problems inherent in conducting an HTA without a suitable tool to assist the analyst
- For the future, a standardised database of Task Analyses would be greatly facilitated by the standardisation of a method for the conduct of HTA
- HTA remains a method of great utility and value, but any successful HTA tool (which could be proposed as a standard) must have full capabilities in the analysis and description of sub-goals (sub-tasks), and of being able to extend them
What is recommended?
The development of a software tool to support the analyst in the production of HTAs.
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