Robert Mager (1988) also suggests another way to conduct a task analysis. He identified five-step process to translate vague instructional goals into a set of defined desired performances:

1. Write down the goal using whatever abstract terms express the intent and be sure the statement is written in terms of outcomes rather than process. For example, "Have a favorable attitude to..." rather than "Develop a favorable attitude to...".
2. Think about achieving the goal in terms of people performance. What would people have to do or say or stop doing and saying before you would be willing to say that they represent the goal? List as many performances as you can think of.
3. Sort the list and identify steps until it can be said that if someone did these things and did not do these other things that would represent the goal.
4. Expand the words and phrases on the list into complete sentences that tell when or how often the performance is expected to occur. This will help to establish limits around the expected performance. It will enable the instructional designer to say "how much" performance is satisfactory to undertake the task successfully. For example, a goal analysis on security consciousness might include the item ‘no unattended documents'. When expanded into a complete sentence it may read "Employee always locks sensitive documents in safe before leaving room."
5. Test for completeness. Review the performances on your list and ask:

If someone did these things would I be willing to say that he or she is _____________".

(Mager, R. Making Instruction Work. 1988, p. 45-46).