Chapter 7. Sample Application: Requirements and High-Level Design

Albert Einstein made the comment, "Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach." Indeed, when learning VUI design, you can read lists of procedural steps and guidelines, but, until you see the process in action, you can never fully comprehend the details, subtleties, and constraints imposed by real-world problems.

This chapter begins our presentation of a sample application. Throughout the book, we will carry on this example, stepping through all the details of definition, design, development, and deployment. You will have a chance to see the methodology and design principles in action. Keep in mind that our purpose is not necessarily to advocate a particular solution or set of design choices for the application at hand, but rather to show the process in action. We have fashioned our design decisions and test results for this example to demonstrate particular points. They do not necessarily represent actual test results on a real deployment.

The sample application is for our imaginary client Lexington Brokerage. The application it wants to build will allow callers to get stock information, place trades, and manage their accounts. We begin with a brief introduction to Lexington Brokerage and its goals. Then we dive into the details of requirements definition and high-level design.^[1]

^[1] The material in these chapters on the Lexington Brokerage application is based partially on presentations by Tony Sheeder and by Rebecca Nowlin at Nuance V-World: "VUI Design Under the Microscope," V-World 2001.