Re: [Silver] Task Completion testing

Task Completion varies by task. Tasks can be granular and discrete actions, like activate the edit button in order to enable input; or broad utilities and goals, like update my account profile with new residence and employment information. So I think we first have to be a bit prescriptive of “task” with common examples.



In the UX practice, we often conduct what is referred to as “top task analysis” (some links to resources at the end). Essentially, when there are many broad goals a user may have with a service, we tend to divert attention and resources to supporting those found to be most important. For example, in an ecommerce experience, searching (locating) tends to be more important to the user than checking out, but successfully checking out tends to be critical to both the user and the business. Task completion is easily measurable for each. In search, completion is when the user successfully activates and navigates to a link from among the provided result set. In checkout, it is when the transaction successfully posts and confirmation feedback is provided.



Top Task Analysis Resources:

Task Analysis<https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/task-analysis.html> – usability.gov

Top Task Analysis<https://www.usability.de/en/services/methods/top-task-analysis.html> – usability.de

What Really Matters: Focusing on Top Tasks<https://alistapart.com/article/what-really-matters-focusing-on-top-tasks/> – Gerry McGovern



How we typically ensure users with disabilities can complete these top tasks, is during usability testing – usually moderated. We recruit people with disabilities for each study, with a goal of 50% participation. However, this is very inconsistent and many disabilities and specific functional needs are not represented.


Charles Hall // Senior UX Architect
Invited Expert, W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group & Silver Task Force
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Member, Global Diversity Coalition, McCann Worldgroup

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On 3/30/20, 1:36 PM, "Jeanne Spellman" <jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com> wrote:



    The Silver Task Force and Community Group are looking for ideas of how

    different companies do task completion testing today.  How do you test

    your digital products today to see if users with disabilities can

    actually complete the tasks that the page{s) or screen(s) is intended

    for?  There are a lot of names for it: usability testing, user research,

    cognitive walkthrough, etc.



    Please don't write an longform essay.  A few bullet points of what you

    do, and (optional) what the strengths and shortcomings are,  would be

    very helpful to us as we try to include task completion testing in

    Silver.  Please include your contact information if we have questions.

    You can send them to the public Silver list <public-silver@w3.org> or

    privately to jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com



    Thanks,



    jeanne







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