Applications of Cognitive Work Analysis

Despite continued interest in Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) techniques for the analysis and design of complex, human-technology systems, few published accounts exist that document all of the five recommended phases of CWA in real world applications. Delineating a work-centered conceptual framework that guides the design of technology, Applications of Cognitive Work Analysis provides the understanding necessary to apply these robust techniques to real world, large scale system design problems in a variety of domains.

The book provides a complete CWA analysis for a complex, simulated air traffic control environment and a three phase analysis of an actual healthcare system. It includes detailed applications of work domain, control tasks, and strategies analysis for systems including military command and control, transportation, and emergency management. The contributors present discussions and examples of techniques drawn from research and design traditions other than CWA that can be used to complement and enrich CWA analyses in areas of social and organization analysis, and knowledge and skills analysis. They emphasize important theoretical and application oriented advances in CWA related to the integration of CWA within a larger system design. The concluding chapter examines the progress of CWA as a cognitive engineering tool, then outlines its theoretical underpinnings and a path for the future of this approach.

The book demonstrates how these methods can be applied in complex, real world design contexts, subject to constraints of cost, time, and information. It shows the how, when, and where CWA techniques can be integrated into the systems engineering design process and provides concrete evidence for the value that the CWA approach provides in every domain.