On the surface, chat bots seem simple. In reality, designing a conversation is particularly hard: it needs nuance and care to be effective. This talk covers why designing conversation is difficult, what details need to be thought of and how to use lean startup to tackle the problem.

1. Prototyping Chat Bots
DESIGNINGTHEDETAILSTHATMATTER
Stuart Wiener
November 2016

2. HI!

3. DESIGNINGTHEDETAILSTHATMATTER

4. It doesn’t occur to most people that everything is designed.
~ Bill Moggridge ~

5. Make the
right thing
Make the
thing right

6. DON’TMAKEAPONYEXPRESS

7. Make the
right thing
Make the
thing right

8. • Watch and learn from end users as often as
possible, for inspiration and validation.
• Build in small increments, testing the
effects of every detail.
USELEANSTARTUPTO
DISCOVERSOLUTIONS
THATCREATEREALIMPACT
BUILD
MEASURELEARN

9. Humans are complicated…
Confirmation Bias
We tend to believe information that
we’ve heard before while ignoring
evidence that refutes our point of view.
Availability Bias
We tend to only consider evidence that
is immediately apparent to us.
Ikea Effect
We tend to place disproportionate
value on the things that we make,
because, well, we made them!
Loss Aversion
We are more sensitive to potential
losses than we are to potential gains
(usually by a factor of ~2)

10. Only when we concede that we cannot depend on our ability to
predict the future are we open to a process that discovers it.
~ Duncan Watts ~

11. + = ?
Nascent technology People

13. We expect cultural preconceptions to apply

14. 😂
Might not mean what you think it does…

15. We tend to reflect other peoples emotions back to them

16. HI!

17. The context frames the interaction

19. Our interactions change as we develop a shared history

21. Our interactions change as we learn more about someone

23. WOAH!
Chat bots have got a little way to go…

24. Disruption on the first day always looks like a toy…
~ Steve Blank ~

25. Most people think first of what they want to express or make, then find
the audience for their idea.
You must work the opposite angle, thinking first of the public. You
need to keep your focus on their changing needs…
Beginning with their demand, you create the appropriate supply.
~ Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) ~

26. Customer discovery
Discover customer needs that
could be addressed with a chat
bot.
Frame the problem
Create a problem statement that
frames the problem in the right
way—to help make sure that you
solve the root problem, not a
symptom of it.
NOWIT’SYOURTURN…
Prototype a bot
Quickly test your ideas to validate
your understand of customer
needs and behaviour.
1 2 3

27. Remember that our higher order objective is to validate our
ideas the fastest, cheapest way possible. Actually building and
launching a product idea is generally the slowest, most
expensive way to validate the idea.
~ Marty Cagan ~

28. Pay attention to what users do, not what they say.
~ Jacob Nielsen ~

29. • What is the job that a customer will hire your
product to do?
• Tasks to complete
• Problems to solve
• Needs to satisfy
• What are the pains involved?
• What gains could be made even better?
UNDERSTANDTHE
JOBS-TO-BE-DONE

30. EXISTING
BEHAVIOUR
NEW
BEHAVIOUR
Attraction of new solution
Attraction of old solution . Push from new solution
Push from old solution

31. EXISTING
BEHAVIOUR
NEW
BEHAVIOUR
Motivation
Beliefs, perceptions
Carrot & stick
Social norms
Ability
Knowledge
Skill (usability)
Habit
Opportunity
Trigger
Timing
Context
The forces behind those…

32. • What did people do?
• When did they do those things?
• What was difficult?
• What was easy?
• Even better if they can show you, rather than
tell you…
STARTWITH
STORIES

33. What humans are best at doing is interpreting all new
information so that their prior conclusions are left intact.
~ Warren Buffett ~

34. • Ask about specific events.
What do you normally do? What did you do yesterday?
• Ask open questions—don’t preempt the answer.
Did you like that? What do you think about that?
• Ask about emotional impact
How does that make you feel?
• Drill down to root causes
Why? Why? Why?
GETTINGWORTHWHILE
INSIGHTSFROMINTERVIEWS

35. Find a friend
Interview them about one of their hobbies for 5 minutes each
You’re looking for pains, gains & jobs-to-be-done
10 mins

36. How did it go?
Did you learn anything interesting?
Did you get pains, gains & jobs-to-be-done?

37. Finding the problem is the hardest part.
~ Kevin Systrom ~

38. Work alone
Write a few problem statements based on what you learnt
5 mins
How might we help _______________ to
__________________ given that __________________.
your friend
job-to-be-done
pain / gain

39. How did it go?
Can you imagine a bot that could help?

40. A prototype is a quick test of a possible design
solution. When prototyping a chat bot it’s
particularly easy. All you need is…
• A friend
• Whatsapp
You will “be the bot”.
EXPLORATORY
PROTOTYPING

42. Push: without being prompted you’re going to
message your friend. You might need to set
the scene for them by giving them a little
context…
Pull: your friend is going to message you first,
after which you, the bot, will reply.
WHATSORTOFBOT
AREYOU?

43. Spend 2 minutes thinking about how the conversation might go
(what information are you going to need readily available?)
Spend 3 minutes having a WhatsApp conversation—try not to
talk verbally to each other.
Try to stress test your friend—use realistic but extreme
scenarios if possible.
10 mins

44. How did it go?
What did you learn?
What was different to what you expected or planned?

45. KEEPGOING…
BUILD
MEASURELEARN

46. Stuart Wiener
stwiener@deloitte.co.za
@stuartwiener
THANKS!