Task Analysis

Work out what needs to be done and when

Task analysis is useful in project management because it enables people to work out what has to be done to achieve project objectives. This includes working out how to achieve intermediate objectives. In this respect, task analysis can help the team workout how tasks and subtasks can be specified and coordinated.

Task analysis can identify which actions follow which other actions. It can also help specify which action should be taken as a contingency following the occurrence of particular sets of circumstances, including the outcome of decisions. It can also indicate whether later actions have to wait for particular time to elapse before being carried out. These different contingencies relate to how information flows within a project. So if one person is carrying out one critical part of a project that has to be achieved for a colleague to start making their input, communication between these colleagues is essential.

Task analysis can become complicated if the tasks being looked at are particularly complicated. But it is easy to apply these basic principles to more straightforward challenges using the outline view in WORD.

Pin It on Pinterest