Establish what is happening
Name the participant goal
Write what the participant is trying to accomplish and why it matters in a plausible situation. Avoid naming controls, labels, or the order of actions. Record the prior knowledge or context required to understand the scenario.
Inspect clues and constraints
Read the task as a first-time participant would. Mark product vocabulary, leading hints, hidden assumptions, and details that make the task artificial. Check that the prototype state, data, and time limit support the intended behavior.
Bound success and learning
Define completion, useful progress, recovery, and an informative miss. State the product question the task can answer and what it cannot. Include an observation plan so the facilitator does not rescue a participant too early.
What to carry forward
The triage output is a task brief with user goal, neutral prompt, prototype state, success condition, and learning boundary. Stop when the task can reveal strategy without coaching. Keep it provisional when the scenario depends on a context the participant cannot realistically inhabit.
Technical background: Nielsen Norman Group research guidance.
Keep the decision with the work.
Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.
Create an account See the product workflow