Path Analysis

Read Avinish Kaushik's post Path Analysis: A Good Use of Time?  Do you agree or disagree with his post?  Why? How could your company use Path Analysis? What advantages or disadvantages would path analysis provide?

I can't say I agree or disagree with Avinash Kaushik's post completely as I've never actually done a path analysis to determine whether or not it was worth the time. I do see however how it can be viewed from both sides. What ultimately matters is whether the user had a good or bad experience and if it profited the site or its owner in some way. Whether or not they followed the path the organization wishes is somewhat irrelevant. At the same time though if it seems users are clicking in awkward paths to arrive at some destination then there may be something confusing about the site that could be reworked. There may also just be unnecessary pages that can be removed or combined in order to safe the user time and hopefully improve their opinion of a site. The disadvantages of path analysis though are that it takes resources and if what the article says is true they don't really offer too much benefit. So, like many things, I really think it depends on the organization and the site as to whether or not it's worthwhile to conduct a path analysis and act upon the results.