Design Knowledge Base

Flow Chart (Task Analysis)

A diagram representing the steps a user will interact with in order to reach a goal. The diagram traces a user’s possible paths through sequences of tasks and decision points in pursuit of their goal. The tasks and decision points should represent steps taken by the user, as well as steps taken by the system.

When to Use

  1. To illustrate in a solution-agnostic way the overall flow of tasks through which a user progresses to accomplish a goal.
  2. To document different possible steps, often order of operations, a user could complete a task.
  3. To align the development team on the system’s expected flow requirements to create the solutions.

Steps

  1. Identify the user goal(s) from user research that you intend to document.
  2. For each goal, identify common scenarios and the tasks and decisions that the user or system will perform in each scenario.
  3. Record the steps one-by-one in a boxes-and-arrows format.

References

  1. https://methods.18f.gov/
  2. http://practicaluxmethods.com/product/task-analysis/
  3. https://uxmastery.com/resources/techniques/

Templates (if applicable)

Created by: Joe Steinkamp | Last updated by: Joe Steinkamp