The Best Amazon Alexa Design and Research Tool

Demo @ 1:00

I build a lot of amazon Alexa skills. So, to speed prototyping, I created a tool that lets you control an amazon Alexa conversation using a Facebook messenger like chat window.

Who do you think would benefit the most from a tool like this? Should I build it out for a larger audience of users?

[ Linkedin: Caleb Gates https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebgates/]

As a coder I usually befall the mistake of building a skill before doing the proper research and user testing.

As a designer research usually involves role playing sample conversations. This is prone to bias and lacks the genuine feel of talking with an all powerful AI.

The solution. Role playing with Alexa. This simple man in the middle directs Alexa's traffic to a chat window where a real human being can respond. While the user believes the are waiting for that blue ring to spin as Alexa processes petabytes of data they are in fact waiting for a company expert to type an answer to their question.

The situation: Drop one of these in your store, company, cafeteria, mall, break room or whatever and record the genuine questions that users ask your skill. Next: Try to answer their question and determine what information your users find most valuable. Then: once you've done enough research use that data to design and build an integrated and automated solution. A solution that serves the largest majority of users by targeting the most repetitive questions asked.

If you have questions or would like to collaborate you can reach out to me on Linkedin or in the comments below.