Online Technical Writing:Task Analysis and Task-Oriented Documentation

Identifying TasksDifferent Approaches toDocumentation

Writing with a functionorientationWriting with a task orientation

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When you write instructions, procedures, and "guide" or user-guideinformation, you normally must use a task approach. That meansproviding steps and explanations for all the major tasks that usersmay need to perform.

Identifying TasksTo write in a task-oriented manner, you first have to do some taskanalysis. That means studying how users use the product,interviewing them, and watching them. It can also mean interviewingmarketing and product development people. If you can get your handson the kinds of questions that help-desk people receive, that helpstoo.

But sometimes, you may not be in a position to do a thorough taskanalysis. Typically, product developers don't think about documentuntil rather late. In these cirucumstances, it's often difficult to getmarketing, development, engineering, and programming people tospend enough time with you to explain the product thoroughly. And soyou end up doing a certain amount of educated guesswork. Thedeveloper is more likely to review your draft and let you inow if yourguesswork is right.

To developyour owntask analysis,you can studythe userinterface(buttons,menus,options, etc.)of theproduct. Thisgoes for bothhardware andsoftware.

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Consider thisinterface foran iconediting tool:

From just thissnippet of theinterface, youcan identifyseveralobvioustasks:

Start anewiconprojectOpenanexistingiconprojectforeditingRenamean iconproject(SaveAs)Exit AZIconEdit

Interface for AZ Icon Edit

Now, look at themenu options forthe next parts ofthe menu. You cansee that whenpeople are usingthis icon editor,they'll also mostlikely be doingthese tasks:

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Undo amistakeCapture animage orsome part ofitCutsomethingout of anicon projectCopysomethingout of anicon projectPastesomethinginto an iconprojectFlip theentire imagehorizontalyor verticallyRotate theimage leftClear theproject,whichprobablymeans startoverRestore,which you'llhave to askaround,experimentwith, or diginto theprogrammingspec to find

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out aboutDraw with athick.medium, orthin line.

But nowlook at theinterfacewithout themenuoptionshangingdown. Whatadditionaltasks canyou see? Aswith a lotof graphicaluserinterfaces,some of theiconsduplicatethe menuoptions. Forexample,thebulleted-listiconenablesyou toselect athin,medium, orthick linethe samewayclicking onOptionsdoes.However,

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there aresome newtools here,notavailableelsewherein theinterface:

Draw straight lines (you'll have to experiment to see thedifference between the two pencil icons)Draw freehand lines (the wavy-line icon)Draw unfilled rectangles (sharp edges) and unfilled rectangles(rounded edges)Draw unfilled ovals and filled ovalsFill with color (the hypodermic needle)Select portions of the image to move, cut, or rotate (thedotted-line icon)Capture images or parts of images (the net, but how does itwork?)Draw filled rectangles (sharp edges) and filled rectangles(rounded edges)Select background color (the Screen button)Select line or fill color (the double-box icon)

There's a lot you still don't know about this software, but you'vealready done a lot of guesswork toward defining the major tasks.You'd want to group and consolidate things much more tightly thanabove, perhaps like the following:

Creating, editing, renaming, and saving iconsSelecting foreground and background colorDrawing lines, rectangles, and ovalsCutting, pasting, and copying objectsMoving, flipping, and rotating objects

You can see that in this rough task list, there is no trace of tasks suchas filling an object with color, capturing images, clearing theworkspace, undoing a mistake, or restoring. But as you work, these

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details will begin to find their place in your scheme. Now, stand backfrom the details of the interface and put yourself in the place of anicon designer. What questions is that individual likely to ask? How do Ichange the color of the background? We've got that covered. How do Ichange the thickness of the lines I draw? Got that one covered too.How do I make the background transparent? Hmmm . . . that will bean issue for the color section, but it will take some research.

Different Approaches to Documentation

When you write for users, you have a choice of two approaches,function orientation and task orientation, the latter of which is by farthe better choice.

Writing with a function orientation. It ought to be obvious how toproceed after a task analysis, but apparently not. Computerpublicationsif not technical publications in generaloften seem tostray into a non-task-oriented style of writing. That's probablybecause it's sometimes almost possible to translate elements of a userinterface into a set of tasks. But, no! That just doesn't work.

Another reason why user guide instructions sometimes turn out nottask oriented has to do with product specifications. Productspecifications, which are written by and for programmers, engineers,developers, are written in terms of required function:

File menubutton

Enables user to create a new file, open anexisting file, rename a file, etc.

Crop icon Enables user to cut selected segment of image.

You might call this approach function-oriented writing because itsystematically explains each function, feature, or interface element ofa product. Unfortunately, this approach shows up in user guidesmeant for nontechnical readers perhaps because the writers areinexperienced, untrained, or technical; or else the writers have beencalled in too late to do much else but polish the developers' spec.

The function-oriented approach almost works sometimes. But "almost"and "sometimes" are not good enough. It almost works because thenames of interface elements and functions sometimes match the tasksthey support. For example, the Open menu option is pretty intuitive:open an existing file. Others are not. For example, what do yousuppose is restored by the Restore button in the AZ Icon Editinterface? Also, some interface elements don't accomplish tasks all bythemselves. In Photoshop, for example, you can't crop text bypressing the Crop menu option. You have to first click the

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text-selection button, then draw a selection box around the part of theimage you want to keep, then press the Crop button.

Writing with a task orientation. Instead of the function-orientedapproach, use the task-oriented approach. Identify the tasks users willneed to perform with the product, and then structure your documentaccordingly. Make your headings and subheadings task oriented intheir phrasing. Task-oriented phrasing means phrasing like "How toadjust the volume, "Adjusting the volume," or "Adjust the volume." Itdoes not mean phrasing like "Volume" or "Volume Adjustment." Hereare some additional examples:

Problem phrasing Task-oriented phrasingCapture Capturing imagesScreen button Selecting background or foreground objectsRectangles Drawing rectanglesOval icon Drawing ovals and circles

When you have defined user tasks, organized them into logicalgroups, and have defined task-oriented headings, you're ready towrite! Here's an excerpt:

Drawing Rectangles and Ovals

You can use the icon editor to draws squares, rectangles,ovals, and circles.

Draw a rectangle. To draw a rectangle:

Ensure that you have selected the foreground coloryou want. (See "Selecting foreground color.")

1.

Click the rectangle icon.2.

Position the mouse pointer in the drawing areawhere you want to the rectangle to appear, holddown the left mouse button, and drag to create therectangle.

3.

Draw an oval. To draw an oval:

Ensure that . . .1.

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In this excerpt, you can see that an overall task-oriented approach istaken and that task-oriented phrasing is used for the headings. Noticetoo that numbered lists are used to guide readers step by stepthrough the actions involved in the task.

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