1. the breakdown of a complex task into component tasks to identify the different skills needed to correctly complete the task. In education, for example, it entails the breakdown of a subject or field of study to identify the specific skills the student must possess in order to master it; in industrial and organizational settings, a job is broken down into the skills, knowledge, and specific operations required. See also job analysis.

2. in ergonomics, a method of evaluating a product or system in which researchers interview actual or target users in order to find out (a) what tasks are performed; (b) which of these are most frequently performed and which are most important; (c) how and in what sequence the tasks are performed; (d) what standards of performance apply; and (e) how different categories of user vary in their answers to the above. Although some scripted questions are asked, the interviews are otherwise unstructured, the better to reflect users’ actual experience. Compare cognitive walkthrough method; conversation analysis; heuristic.