SpeechTek 2007 1

Retire the Horse and Buggy:

Opening a New Era for Voice Interaction Design

SpeechTek 2007

SpeechTek 2007 2

Back story

SpeechCycle Building premier design team to design the most complex

speech applications in production

14 years in development and design of apps - 10 years in speech development and voice interaction design - Built 3 design teams

Intervoice, designoutloud, VoicePartners

2004 SpeechTek Persona of the year

Client in 2005 CIO 100 due in part to speech app

Patent for caller goal tracking

SpeechTek 2007 3

Voice Interaction Design

Vitally important to application success

Challenging and controversial Done with widely varying quality.

Requires highly specialized talent.

Few or incorrect standards.

Objective quality is difficult to measure.

SpeechTek 2007 4

Why am I Yapping?

It’s time for something new

New things are made from old

This is a challenge, not a map

SpeechTek 2007 5

Predictions

“The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad.“

President of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Horace Rackham (Henry Ford's lawyer) not to invest in the Ford Motor Company in 1903

"The automobile has practically reached the limit of its development."

Scientific American, 1909

The Car

SpeechTek 2007 6

The Car

Outsourcing horsepower

SpeechTek 2007 7

The Car

Ford and the Model T

SpeechTek 2007 8

The Car

The 1930’s

SpeechTek 2007 9

What am I Yapping About?

Horse and Buggy ≠ DTMF apps

Horse and Buggy = Holdovers of Early 90’s Design Methods

SpeechTek 2007 10

More Parallels?

Model T = VoiceXML-based instant apps

Keeping the spirit of the horse and buggy alive

SpeechTek 2007 11

Evidence

Menus with 5 or more times

Lengthy intros

Inappropriate personas

Just what is your Father’s Oldsmobile?

SpeechTek 2007 12

Evidence

Lengthy help tips that every caller hears before they can say a word

Ubiquitous “Main menu”

Terrible concatenation

Just what is your Father’s Oldsmobile?

SpeechTek 2007 13

Evidence

Gratuitous “help”

Confusing and ambiguous wording

Strange design strategies

Just what is your Father’s Oldsmobile?

SpeechTek 2007 14

Evidence

Strange design strategies

Overly long menus and queries

Fill-in-the-blank apps

Just what is your Father’s Oldsmobile?

SpeechTek 2007 15

Evidence

Bumps and bruises and cries of agony

SpeechTek 2007 16

Whatever Shall We Do?

Appreciation of the situation Voice interaction design requires a design talent for

language

Deep sensitivity to interactive language, not just knowledge of app recipes or top ten lists

Solutions are often non-obvious

SpeechTek 2007 17

Whatever Shall We Do?

Listen To the real people around us

For commonly used strategies

SpeechTek 2007 18

Whatever Shall We Do?

Evangelize the customer Spread the good news of good design

Explain voice interaction patiently Boxing

Fight for good design

Use data and examples

SpeechTek 2007 19

Whatever Shall We Do?

Put the buggy in the museum and the horse out to pasture

Things to never use again

SpeechTek 2007 20

Whatever Shall We Do?

Admit that help might be needed Internal and external peer reviews

Professional usability testing and heuristic evaluation

Read

Get involved in the larger interaction design community

Classes

SpeechTek 2007 21

Why Give a…?

We are supposed to be providing a service.

There are those who think that success is beyond us or just want to see this fail

To advance the general field of interaction design and HCI

To fight the forces of evil and chaos

SpeechTek 2007 22

Five Fingers

Maybe this isn’t so hard

Maybe it’s supposed to be this way

But, I don’t think so. We can do better and should.