Task- vs. system-based procedures?

["Geoff Hart" <geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca>]

Bill Hartzer wondered <<In regards to computer software, what is 
the difference between task-based procedures and system-based 
procedures?>>

That depends on how you define "system". In general, task-based 
procedures are centered on the relatively low-level types of jobs 
users will attempt to accomplish using the software; a typical 
example might be a section in the user manual entitled "How do I 
print my novel?". Its opposite, which represents one form of 
"system" documentation, involves documenting things the way 
they appear in the software, with no reference to how users 
actually use the software; a typical example might be a section 
entitled "The contents of the File menu". See the difference? This 
example just lists items, without trying to place them in the user's 
context. (Please note, if the user's context is "looking up the 
meaning of menu commands" or "figuring out what the command 
line switches are for DOS commands", the system approach might 
be far more appropriate than a task-based approach. Different 
users, different solutions!)

Another form of "system documentation might be an overview of 
how software functions (i.e., each function of the software is viewed 
as part of a larger system). A typical example might be a section 
entitled "Overview", which begins "Publishit <g> is designed to 
follow the most efficient desktop publishing workflow ever 
conceived. To meet this goal, the software forces you to import full-
edited word processor files, format the files (do a layout), check the 
results to be sure they conforms with industry-standard  
aesthetics, and print the results on your laser printer." (The section 
would then continue with descriptions of each of these steps, why 
you would do each step, how to move from one step to the next, 
and how the steps interrelate.) The difference is that you're now 
explaining a much broader series of higher-level tasks so that 
users get a feel for what they can do with their software, how to do 
it, and why they should do it that way. Once they understand what 
they're supposed to do with the software, they would then consult 
the task-based information to see how to do it.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)}  geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca  (Pointe-Claire, Quebec)
"If you can't explain it to an 8-year-old, you don't understand it"--Albert Einstein