These are the publication slides for the re:Invent talk by Pulse Labs and Alexa at re:Invent 2018.

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AlexaSkill DeveloperTools - Build
better skills faster
Paul Cutsinger
Alexa and Echo at Amazon
Amazon.com
@AlexaDevs
A L X 4 0 6
Dylan Zwick
Chief Product Officer
Pulse Labs
@PulseLabsAI

3. Conversational platforms
will drive the next big
paradigm shift in how
humans interact
with the digital world.
Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018
“
”

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Tooling for eachstageof theskilllifecycle
Design Build Test Launch

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Designing for voice
Design Build Test Launch

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Core ideas in visual design
• Constrained user input
• Simultaneous presentation
• Persistent data
• Text input is hard

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Voice design is different
• Unconstrained user input
• Sequential presentation
• Ephemeral data
• Text input is easy

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Some Principles forVoice Design
• Be Adaptable
• Be Contextual
• Be Available
More information on these principles is available
here.

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BeAdaptable

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Visual design is constrained

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Voice design is unconstrained –There are many
ways to say something as simple as “yes”
Yes
Yeah
Uh huh
SureWhy not?

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Dealing withsynonyms –Voice applications should
understand themany wayswecan saythesamething.
Cat
Kitty
Tabby
Grimalkin

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Example – EntertainmentAdventureSkillw/Bartender
Whiskey
What are you drinking?
Alright. Bartender, the good stuff!
Johnnie Walker
Hmm.. Never heard of that.
I’ll have my usual.
What are you drinking?

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I’ll have a whiskey
Give me a whiskey
Whiskey
Whiskey please
Whiskey for me
Serve up a whiskey
Pass me a whiskey
Intent
ServeDrink
Utterances and intents

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{drink} Synonyms
whiskey
Johnnie Walker, WhistlePig Boss
Hog, Bushmills
taquilla Don Julio, Ocho
beer
draft, cold one, libation, brewskie,
oat soda, cerveza, barley pop
water
H2o, drink,
still gin and tonic hold the gin
Slotsand entityresolution
I’ll have a {drink}
Give me a {drink}
{drink}
{drink} please
{drink} for me
Serve up a {drink}
Pass me a {drink}

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BeContextual

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Peopledon’t only use one greeting
Hey!
Hi!
How’s it
going?
Hello!
Voice applications shouldn’t either!

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Randomresponses canadd variation,but they’rerisky.
Examplefromquizskill:
True or False: An orange
has more Vitamin C than a
cup of strawberries.
Give me a trivia
question
Well done, you get an A+ on
vitamin C. One small orange has
about 50 milligrams of vitamin C
while a cup of strawberries has
about 90 milligrams. Would you like
another
question?
Too tough? OK.
False
No, thank you.

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Evenbetter,insteadofrandomresponses,askillshouldunderstand
thecontextandhistoryofitsinteractionswiththeuser.
Forexample,agoodquizskill:
• Stores score for the game
• Stores scores from previous games
• Stores times from previous games

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BeAvailable

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In visual design, data is persistent, and display space
is at a premium. In that context, nested menus make
sense: A
B
C
D

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In voice design, there are no space constraints, and
it’s harder for users to remember where they are. So,
make your menus wide and flat:
A
B
C
D
A B C E
D

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Example:Ticketordering skill
You can browse
movies that are
coming soon, or I
can give a
recommendation.
What would you
like to do?
You are in the
browse movie
section. Say stop
to return to main
menu.
Find a
movie
near me
Find
“A
Wrinkle
In Time”
Main Menu
Search Near me
Recommend
Coming
Soon
Title
Time
Search
!

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Example: Food Re-OrderingSkill
Change
the
location
You can place this
order or change
something. Which
would you like?
Change
Something
I'm sorry, I didn't
quite understand.
You can place this
order or change
something. Which
would you like?
Ok. You can change
the pickup time,
change the location,
change the pickup
method, or change the
order item. What would
you like to do?
Change
the
location
Main Menu
Search
Change
Something
Change Pickup
Method
Change
Location
Place order
Change Order
Item
!

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Building forVoice
Design Build Test Launch

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Skill Management API and CLI

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Command Line Interface
$ npm install -g ask-cli

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IDE integration

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AWS CodeStar

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TestingforVoice
Design Build Test Launch

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36. “Testing with real users, early
and often, is crucial”
Cathy Pearl, DesigningVoice User Interfaces

37. “To design the best UX, pay attention to what users do, not
what they say. Self-reported claims are unreliable, as are
user speculations about future behavior. Users do not know
what they want.”
- Jacob Nielsen
Nielsen Norman Group

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Recruit testers
Rule of thumb:
The easier testers are to
recruit, the less valuable
their feedback.
Difficulty to Recruit
Valueoffeedback

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Onsite lab tests
Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash
• Coordination on time and
location
• Extensive pre-planning
• Artificial environment
• Expensive

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Offsite lab test
• Extensive equipment
logistics
• Hard to record the
interaction
• Data collection in homes is
tricky

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Pulse Labs provides an online platform
for:
• Recording and displaying all the data
from testing sessions
• Constructing and administering post-
test questionnaires
• Organizing and presenting the data
from all sessions for a given test
here

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Vettedpanel ofuser testers
Large panel of testers in:
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Australia
Pulse Labs handles all coordination and
communication with testers.

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Optimizing forVoice
Design Build Test Launch

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Remember
Design Build Test Launch
• Be adaptable
• Be contextual
• Be available
• Test early and
often
• Unit test
• Beta test with
real users – Pulse
Labs can help!
• Skill
management API
• Command Line
Interface
• IDE Integration
• Track your
performance with
Alexa analytics
tools

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alexa.design links
Design Build Test Launch
/design
/situational_design
/utterances
/synonyms
/memory
/handlers
/test
/unit_testing
/beta_testing
/pulselabs
/build
/smapi
/cli
/vscode
/codestar
/launch
/analytics

48. Thank you
@PaulCutsingerDylan Zwick - dylan@pulselabs.ai
pulselabs.ai
@PulseLabsAI
Amazon Alexa

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