Page 78 - Making Instruction Work

chap 6 3/4/97 4:14 PM Page 66

66 making instruction work

NOTES:
a. Don’t include instruction in the analysis. The purpose of
the analysis is to visualize competent performance so
that better decisions can be made about how to get more
of it. Putting “how to learn it” comments in the task
analysis puts the cart before the horse and defeats its
purpose.

b. Statements such as “Select a screwdriver” or “Select a lip-
stick” are not considered decisions and don’t belong in a
diamond; no matter which screwdriver or lipstick is
selected, the action that follows is the same. Use a deci-
sion symbol only when one decision would lead you to a
different action than would another decision.

c. Don’t be concerned if one part of your analysis seems to
be more detailed than another. The purpose isn’t to pro-
duce some tidy document for display; the purpose is to
help answer the question, “What would anybody have to
be able to do before practicing this entire task?” When
the analysis is detailed enough to answer that question
for each step, consider it finished.

d. The quality of the analysis is unrelated to the straight-
ness of your lines. So don’t waste time with a ruler. Do
your flowcharting on a large piece of paper, and do it
with a pencil. If you prefer, flowchart the task using a
computer-based flowcharting-application program.
The following examples provide three additional flow-
charts.