An exploratory study of workflow support for tactical teams

Abstract

Tactical teams need tools to support their collaboration and help coordinate their workflow. We developed the concept of workflow coordinating representations (WCRs) to provide a common workspace and coordination space. Two questions are whether there are general good design properties for WCRs, and whether there are limits to the types of tasks to which these properties can be applied successfully. Experiment 1 examined a range of design properties within a well-structured team task: collecting and analyzing biometric data during a maritime interdiction operation. Naïve participants performed the biometrics task and then rated the designs. A detailed WCR design that well matched the workflow of the task was rated more highly than other designs. Experiment 2 applied the detailed design to an ill-structured team task: planning a military rescue mission. There was a WCR for organizing the capabilities of each available asset and another WCR for laying out a detailed timeline of events. Simple maps of the mission area were rated more highly as a collaboration tool than the WCRs. The design properties that were effective for the well-structured task did not benefit the brainstorming nature of the ill-structured task, except for documenting a solution once the brainstorming was complete.