On the Future of Cognitive Task Analysis

Abstract

Specifying the specific actions required to do a job has been with us since the dawn of history. For example, the Bible contains specific instructions for certain activities, such as the offering of sacrifices in the Temple. However, as work has evolved, the requirements for job analyses and the forms in which job content are expressed have changed considerably. Today's jobs often require complex thinking and the solution of problems that cannot be stated explicitly in advance. They often involve groups of people with different knowledge and skills working together to solve problems. They sometimes involve the use of intelligent systems, either as part of work teams or for training team members. Those systems require a much more formal and structured specification of the knowledge that is needed to be a coach or member of a work team. To some extent, the underlying assumptions embedded in the culture of cognitive task analysts are being challenged today. For example, task analyses are generally done in part by interviewing current job experts. This used to work very well. Today, however, training is often being built for tasks no one has ever done before. Hence, there may be no subject-matter expert (SME) to interview. We know that the engineers who design tools and work processes are not universally good at telling us what the work is about. That is why we went to interviewing job incumbents in the first place.