How to Develop Task Summaries for Soldier's Manuals. Volume II: Developer's Guide. Technical Report 579

Intended primarily for developers of task performance instructions, this manual describes a method for developing task summaries for writers of soldier's manuals. It is secondarily intended for others involved in developing the manuals, including those who determine policy, supervisors and administrators, and specialists in research and development. Following an introduction, chapter 2 contains an example of a task summary revised by the method. The characteristics that distinguish this effective task summary from ineffective ones are specified. The rest of the manual is a step-by-step guide for applying the method. Chapter 3 gives directions for developing task summaries that meet the criteria given in chapter 2. The first section of chapter 4 distinguishes the different kinds of tasks. Sections 2 to 5 are specific suggestions for each kind of task summary, namely procedures with equipment, procedures with data, component skills, and criterion-driven performance. Methods for tryouts and revisions are discussed in chapter 5. Use of the soldier's manuals by trainers is considered in chapter 6, since the new series of soldier's manuals will include notes for trainers and no separate commander's manual will be developed. A classification of tasks is appended. (YLB)