Customer Reviews

Working Minds: A Practitioner's Guide to Cognitive Task Analysis (Bradford Books)

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Gary Klein and his colleagues have been studying for many years what kinds of mind-sets different jobs need, and this book reports on how that field of study is shaping up. A methodology has been developed, wherein investigators study knowledgeable workers (experts) to get the skills baseline, then write up a (series of) template(s) on their findings, whereupon these templates become teaching guides for new recruits.

This book gives a number of case studies of all phases of CTA projects. Even before interviews begin, there is a Preparation phase, wherein the CTA practitioners learn enough about the job, profession, and field of work so that they can ask intelligent questions and recognize relevant answers. Then Knowledge Elicitation follows, through interviews, questionnaires, brain-storming sessions, etc., usually involving two analysts, one to lead the enquiry, the other to record the results.

In the Analysis phase the results are collated, correlated, and represented in some graphical or tabular form so that the pattern of cognitive capabilities and their inter-relations can be depicted and understood. The patterns that may emerge include Hierarchical Task Analysis (the task logic of entailment and subsumption), and Procedural Task Analysis (the linear and concurrent sequence of activities), and these may be represented with Skills Lists, Mind Maps, Dimensional Distributions, etc.

The motivation to engage in this type of analysis is often the need to train new recruits more proficiently or replace retirees more efficaciously. So Cognitive Training is a very important part of the exercise, and the findings must be interpreted in such a way as to facilitate this process. Instructional Analysis is therefore based on the previous findings, and both the content and the process of training are improved as a result. In the Knowledge Society this is by far the most sensible approach to training. How many of the Knowledge Working Skills are analyzed, formalized, and instructed in this way? Not nearly enough so far - not even in Learning Facilities or Knowledge Factories - but it is a waste of time, money, and effort to train in any other way, so we can hope that CTA is the wave of the future!

The authors described the What, Why, When, Where and How of Cognitive Task Analysis from multiple aspects. One aspect concerns analyzing the cognitive tasks of incumbents in a situated setting. Another aspect concerns analyzing the cognitive task content of an envisioned role in a foreseen situation. Another aspect concerns analyzing the cognitive tasks of those who research cognitive task analysis methods, aids and tools. Another is analyzing the cognitive tasks involved in reflecting on and improving oneself as a practitioner of cognitive task analysis. Yet another is the challenges that must be mastered by educators of cognitive task analysis practitioners. The versatility and value of Cognitive Task Analysis was thusly demonstrated without causing the reader undue confusion. A significant, complex task well done.

Working Minds brings the `intuitive' aspect of decision into focus with the `rational' aspect. This is one, very large contribution. A small disappointment was the absence of teleonomics and its relationship with cognitive task analysis. Also, perhaps a sequel will say more about principles and rules for selecting human vs. automatons during a system design activity.

As computers in general and process formalization in particular encroach further into our lives and as litigation looms larger over those who cannot show that they exercised due process in their work, cognitive task analysis becomes basic, foundational, in business, government and academia. Working Minds helps discover how to lay such foundation.

This is an important book for the engineering of complex systems and information technology systems. Cognitive systems engineering methods described in this book can go a long way toward helping engineers overcome the pervasive problem of inadequate requirements in the development of these systems, unite human and technology concerns in system design, and produce systems that are usable and helpful.

The book makes cognitive systems engineering and its methods much more accessible and comprehensible than any resource I've previously encountered. The book makes the methods described accessible to the novice who has never used them, while also providing details of interest to people who have experience using the methods. For example, it includes a very practical, descriptive, and well-organized walk-through of the cognitive task analysis process that extends from preparation all the way through to its contributions to system design and evaluation.

The book also includes a primer on cognition geared toward the systems developer and which is arguably an important foundation for anyone involved in developing technology that interacts with people performing cognitive work (e.g., information processing, decision making, anomaly detection, troubleshooting,...). The book addresses cost factors associated with cognitive task analysis and other cognitive systems engineering methods (and describes what cognitive systems engineering is and is not - thank you!) throughout, and is full of examples used to demonstrate how cognitive systems engineering methods have been successfully used in the past.

Every systems, human factors, and software engineering student and practitioner needs to read this book!!

This is a really helpful book. I've read quite a bit about Naturalistic Decision Making and CTA's so I was already familiar with most of the concepts. As with any relatively complex subject there is often a large gap between what's in the textbooks and how things actually happen in the field. This book is much more of a "how-to-do-it" guide than any others I've read. It is a very easy read and an excellent introduction to the subject.

Very interesting read. As a person involved in creating educational content the question always presents itself - how do we know we have extracted the necessary and essential knowedlge from the domain expert. Which begs the questions how do you go about extracting that informantion. Working Minds helps one understand the latest thoughts on these issues.

Just like the skilled behavior researchers try to study, being able to conduct a good Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) is a critical skill in itself. Up until now, it was also one that had to be developed by trial and error. This text breaks it all down and provides a wealth of details on the techniques used and challenges faced in conducting a CTA. It also provides some historical context on the study of cognition and the role of CTA in research and system design.

Highly recommended for anyone in the field - I only wish it had come out sooner.

A great book for all CTA practitioners and researchers. If you are thinking of doing CTA as your thesis, this is a book that you must have!

I have only glanced through the book so far, but am impressed with the few passages I viewed. Cognitive task analysis may seem a simple process until it is undertaken and then the micro-detail is encountered. This book looks to explore the micro-detail and explain the fundamentals of CTA.