Conceptualizing and Brainstorming

The first step of the design process is to conceptualize. When I talk about conceptualizing, I'm not referring to an open -ended creative exercise removed from practicalities. Don't get me wrong ”there are many opportunities to be creative in the design of a speech-recognition system. But that creativity must come in service to the real purpose of the design, which is to accomplish specific business goals and communicate specific messages. Conceptualizing is the process of translating those goals and messages into actual system content.

Sometimes the best way to begin to conceptualize a particular problem (or to get through designer's block) is to start brainstorming, either alone or with colleagues. This can be a fairly organized and productive activity, during which many ideas may be generated and recorded in a wide- ranging discussion. Brainstorming requires that a person (or persons) start generating ideas, even absurd ones ”as long as they're related to solving the problem at hand. There's no limit to what can ”or should ”be considered during the brainstorming process. The goal is to collect as many good ideas as possible about as many aspects of the system as possible. No criticism of the ideas is allowed until after the initial brainstorming is completed. After this stage it's time to winnow down the ideas, categorize them, and rank them. A number of books on the market are available to help learn various techniques of brainstorming and how to facilitate good brainstorming sessions. ^[1]

^[1] Suggested reading for brainstorming: Michael Michalko, Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1994).

Good ideas can come from anywhere , and brainstorming is a great way to find them. Of course, brainstorming can also generate a lot of really bad ideas ”ideas that won't work because they're impractical , they haven't been well thought out, or they simply have the wrong style or feel. But don't automatically assume that these supposedly bad ideas are a complete waste of time. At worst, they can convince you what not to do, thereby leading to other, more productive directions. At best, they can act as springboards to really great ideas.

What kinds of ideas should be considered? Things like:

How the call should flow from one state (or turn of the dialogue) to another
How components of the system should handle certain tasks
How the prompts should be worded
How and where branding elements should be integrated (branding is discussed in detail in Chapter 7)

The answers aren't always obvious or simple. For example, should a banking system prompt the caller for the amount of a cash transfer before asking which account to transfer to ”or vice versa? Which approach would minimize confusion and mistakes? Sometimes these answers will come from the research performed, other times brainstorming can help designers think through these questions.

In most cases, the biggest challenge isn't coming up with good brainstorming ideas ”it's organizing all those good ideas into concepts.

For example, let's say a brainstorming session generates 100 good ideas for everything from call flow to prompts to the use of corporate theme music. The designer can then organize these ideas into groups so that the tradeoffs between similar concepts can be evaluated on the basis of quality, priority, appropriateness, and feasibility. Keep in mind that some ideas are more vague than others and need to be treated as such. Sometimes, however, the ideas might fit into particular categories such as:

Navigation commands
Specific task handling
Wording choices
Call flow structures
Database issues
Need for additional technology (such as text-to-speech engines)

After grouping the ideas and evaluating them, you start conceptualizing individual elements of how the system will function and sound, looking for opportunities to make a design that makes the experience easier, faster, and more productive for callers . Here are a few examples.

A banking system that provides the addresses of local branches could use Caller ID to automatically provide callers with the branch addresses closest to the area covered by that telephone exchange, rather than explicitly asking the callers the area that they're interested in.
A system could identify callers after they provide their account number, and use the profiles of callers to provide only relevant options to them. So, for example, a banking system wouldn't offer "Credit card balance" for a customer who didn't have a credit card with that bank.
A system could provide relevant information based on the time of day or calendar. For example, an IRS system could offer callers refund information at tax filing season . Or perhaps a voice portal could be set up to provide weather and traffic information during commuting hours.