Figuring Things Out: A Trainer's Guide To Needs And Task Analysis Review

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Figuring Things Out: A Trainer's Guide To Needs And Task Analysis ReviewPart of the thrill of being a training specialist is that it makes you sort of a performance detective. You have to figure why what is not getting done, or why it isn't being done well enough, and once in a while your managers might have a streak of common sense and let slip the dogs of training to find out how performance can be improved. That doesn't always mean you end up training people; it means you conduct a needs analysis. It's cerebral and that's what makes this one of my favorite phases in the instructional systems design (ISD) process.
"Figuring Things Out," by Zemke and Kramlinger, is "a trainer's guide to needs and task analysis," just as it says in the subtitle. The authors have a strategy and several tactics for "figuring things out:" 1) Always work from a model of human performance 2) Start the study as high in the organization as possible and work your way down. (This means an organizational analysis and operational analysis, if possible). 3) Always know whom you are studying, 4) Never use just one information-gathering technique, 5) Let line managers make critical decisions, and 6) Remember the KISS principle. The authors believe that following these principles, with a touch of ingenuity and a thorough understanding of the performance problem, the solution will define itself.
The first part of the book concentrates on conducting task analyses. What tasks do the people do, what subtasks and what are the elements of each subtask? They describe several methods: analysis, observation, time studies, task listings, S-R tables, and behavioral algorithms.

The next sections III & IV, are more tactical. It is about talking to people about work. The authors illustrate a number of methods for gathering information such as focus groups, a structured interview, and phone interviews. Section IV is about asking questions through critical incidence techniques, consensus groups, and surveys and questionnaires. The final section, Odds and Ends, cover such topics as matching techniques to problem and reporting results to management.
Zemke and Kramlinger are very easy to read, and their topics are not entertaining, but they are not boring to the training specialist. This book not only helps the trainer to identify the proper techniques and under what conditions they should be used, but it also includes an examination of doing things wrong that will bring the inevitable pitfalls to any project.
Conducting a needs analysis is the first step in the ISD process. It is vital that the persons conducting it get it right because it is the foundation for the rest of the model. If your idea of training is more than implementation, than I recommend you entertain the idea of adding this book to your shelf.
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