Tasks Flow
I recall a time during my UX Design program in which my instructor asked me to breakdown the process of brushing my teeth. This startled me initially. I’ve repeated the same steps every day of my life and this series of events had become just one single event to me. But let’s go into detail about brushing, you first have1 to get your brush, then your paste. Take the cap off the paste, apply some paste to the brush, get some water. Depending on what type of brush you use (electric or regular) you scrub or let the brush carry out its task. Then you repeat as needed. Each step I’ve listed is part of a flow to complete the task of brushing one’s teeth. That’s about 7 steps to successfully brush your teeth. Something as simple as this takes a well-detailed flow to do. This same breakdown process can be leveraged when designing almost anything. A sequence of events has to occur for a user to complete certain tasks. The process of breaking down this sequence to visualize them in a graphical format or diagram is known as task analysis.
So, what are task flows? A series of steps (“flow”) that users complete for a specific task. . Task flows are very resourceful artifacts. They help us identify the actions and mental processes needed for a user to complete a task. For example, say I’m building a dog walking app. A task flow makes it easy for me to view the user (in this case the pet owners) interaction with the platform at all touchpoints. The image is a quick task flow chart documenting a dog owner options and how they navigate their way to securing a walker. Task flow helps us visualize from a users’ perspective on the process of achieving their end goal.
So, why are task flows important? Besides helping identify users’ actions and thought processes. They help break users’ goals into small chunks of events or actions and direct them to said goals. Task flows also make it possible to provide clear and concise CTAs, show progress, and feedback. It also makes it possible to refine the task processes to which to be more efficient. This in turn makes it possible to provide navigation and drive conversion up.
Despite these obvious advantages, task flows remain often neglected. I myself have been guilty of this act sometimes. Another advantage of task flow is they are very easy to craft in a short time. When you compare the time it takes to create a task flow whether detailed or draft to the advantages. The advantages by far surpass skipping over it. So, even if it’s for a couple of minutes, don’t hesitate to craft a task flow. This will help you add value to your users at every touchpoint with your product.
