Several bots are typing…Who are Slackbot, Alexa, and M? And why are we talking to them?

“A quick look at the rising interest in a surprisingly old type of user experience and a look at how we can use conversations to build useful, lovable products.”

Justin Threlkeld xD — User Experience Designer

Human interaction with complex systems

@justinthrelkeld justinthrelkeld.com 🍑 @_jt

Who are Slackbot, Alexa, and M?

this is Slackbot

“They are conversational interfaces”

“…what?”

“Glad you asked”

You talk to them

They’re reminiscent of command line interfaces

They’re all the rage right now

Conversation is the natural way to interact with things

Because it’s how we already interact

Howdy.ai Asks your team questions like “Taco or Burrito?”

Digit A text message bot for banking

Amy Schedules meetings via email

and exactly how do

“conversational interfaces”

matter to _____________?business people, product owners, UX pros, sales team, or end users

Conversation creates an emotional connection

Good UX is already a bit like a conversation

“Hello! I’d like to open a bank account.”

“Cool. I just need you to fill out these six forms.”

“Alrighty. Here’s forms one, two and three.

Can I have form four please?”

“Not yet. First you need to fill out this other form that I didn’t mention earlier…”

“…😑 ”

By designing good conversations

Bo how can we design great conversational interfaces?

What makes a good conversation?

A model for building “interactive conversational interfaces”

The Jack Principles

in three parts

Maintain Pacing

Give the user only one task to accomplish at a time

Limit the number of choices the user has at any one time

Give the user only meaningful choices

Make sure the user knows what to do at every moment

Focus the user’s attention on the task at hand

Use the most efficient manner of user input

Make the user aware that the program is waiting

Pause, quit, or move on without the user’s response if it doesn’t come soon enough

Create the Illusion of awareness

Respond to and refer to actions, inactions, past actions

Acknowledge the user’s actual time and space

Make comparisons of different users’ situations and actions

Maintain the Illusion of awareness

Use dialogue that conveys a sense of intimacy

Make sure characters act appropriately while the user is interacting

Make sure dialogue never seems to repeat

Be aware of the number of simultaneous users

Be aware of the gender of the users

Make sure the performance of dialogue is seamless

Avoid the presence of characters when user input cannot be evaluated

Constrain the conversation to clear goals

Harness the desire to be heard and understood

Acknowledge shared control of the conversation

Interactive Principals of Conversation

Every human utterance has an intent

Order matters

Breakdowns are repairable

design for errors, negotiate to shared understanding

Discovery in the invisible interface

“How do you know how to use an interface when you can’t see it?”

Clearly define the goal

split actions across various interfaces that each handle specific areas

Build relationships over time

reveal the interface over time and adapt to changes in relationship

We learn by watching others

expose human-machine interactions to third parties whenever appropriate

“The really unique feature about conversational UIs is that messaging is social. Introductions can be made. Bots can take part in group conversations; …”

Matt Webb, interconnected.org

Several bots are typing…

You ask a question

Three listening bots can provide their own answer

The four of you can interact freely

In fact, one of the bots asks another bot a question…

References and further reading Howdy, http://howdy.ai

Digit, http://digit.co

Amy, https://x.ai

Facebook Launches M, Its Bold Answer to Siri and Cortana, Wired, http://www.wired.com/2015/08/facebook-launches-m-new-kind-virtual-assistant/

Amazon Alexa and Amazon Echo, http://alexa.amazon.com

Google Analytics In Real Life - Online Checkout, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sk7cOqB9Dk

Maxims of Communication, Grice (Logic and Conversation, 1970), https://edge.edx.org/asset-v1:Brown+CSCI2951-K+2015_T2+type@asset+block/grice75.pdf

The Jack Principles, Jellyvision, http://demos.jellyvisionlab.com/downloads/The_Jack_Principles.pdf

Siri Mehus, From Speech to Conversation: A UX Challenge, UXPA Seattle WUD 2015, https://vimeo.com/150852662

More on Conversational UIs, Matt Webb, http://interconnected.org/home/2015/06/28/more_on_conversational_uis

The Next Phase Of UX: Designing Chatbot Personalities, John Pavlus, http://www.fastcodesign.com/3054934/the-next-phase-of-ux-designing-chatbot-personalities

Tools for How We Work Today (with Steward Butterfield of Slack), a16z, http://a16z.com/2015/02/12/slack-1-year-later/

Slack is the Operating System, Ben Brown, https://medium.com/@benbrown/slack-is-the-operating-system-6bae1a6c0291