| Sumario: | Cognitive work analysis is gaining momentum as an approach for the analysis, design and evaluation of complex sociotechnical systems. This paper focuses on control task analysis (ConTA), the second phase of cognitive work analysis. The paper consolidates existing approaches to ConTA and extends the basic concepts, in particular, by asserting that activity in some work systems is better characterized by both work situations and work functions and by introducing a new formative representation for ConTA called the contextual activity template. In addition, the paper proposes a set of methodological guidelines for performing ConTA and presents a case study of a ConTA for a first-of-a-kind military system called Airborne Early Warning and Control. As well as illustrating the conceptual extensions and methodological guidelines for ConTA by example, this case study highlights some of the difficulties of conducting ConTA for first-of-a-kind, complex systems during the early stages of development.
|
|---|