Knowledge analysis of tasks as a basis for interface design of complex developmental systems

Complex development systems are interactive software systems used for the manipulation, design or development in complex problem domains. This paper highlights some of the limitations of Johnson's Knowledge Analysis of Tasks (KAT) (Johnson, 1989, 1992) and proposes a modified version of KAT where task knowledge can be analysed and grouped in a way that will make it useful in the derivation of interfaces in complex developmental systems. This modified form has been applied to the domain of intelligent distributed control systems in an attempt to develop interface concepts for the development, installation and documentation of such systems. The paper further shows how this extended version of KAT may prove a useful input to object oriented analysis.