Assignment 13-1: Module 4 Blog Entry

Whew, it sure has been busy! Module 4 in our course information covered 5 weeks of HCI at least. Mainly, there were the multiple layers of task analysis. I have recently been exposed to my company's version of task analysis and I found out some very interesting things. Apparently, when you learn to do a job and have been doing it for several years, it becomes impossible to explain to anyone else.

Over the past several months we have had people observing our processes to both understand them and search for inefficiencies. Basically, they sit around watching what it is we do and how it is we do it - the classic task analysis model. In Module 4, identifying the tasks, describing the task, and identifying task scenarios are the 3 main processes involved in TA. I can describe what I do in very general terms (I am a Loss Mitigation Analyst) and identify some of the various tasks (I complete financial analyses and determine the best workout options within the constraints of investor guidelines and banking laws). But once you start to drill down each task step-by-step, while some intern is furiously scribbling down notes or try to create some sensible looking Visio flowchart, it starts to get pretty confusing. Especially when there are a million variables involved. I usually end up saying something like, "Well, you look at A if the account is B months past due, um, except for loans of type C, those you have to D before you look at A or E will happen, then you have to go back and F..." I propose that real life TA is much more complex than what Module 4 can possibly encompass. Once you begin breaking tasks into smaller and smaller pieces you start to really look at what's involved... then you want to re-evaluate your compensation package, then, man, you're just tired!

If I were to define the method they are using it would seem like a hybrid of the traditional task decomposition and knowledge-based task analysis. They spend a lot of time having us define each task and each tool involved in it and then trying to create a generic process flow for each loss mitigation option. They ask a lot of "hows" and "whys". This leads to even more scenarios , processes and tools. I do not envy them this job. One day I walked by the office that they were using and the walls were completely covered by sheets of paper representing these massive flow charts and tree hierarchies. Well, at least they were keeping busy...