Ten Things Every Voice Application Should Do
summary
Ten concrete patterns for Alexa skills: focus on one thing really well (example: the games back MLB skill that only reports games back), model user intents not commands, use the one-breath test, randomize speech (author keeps 100+ goodbye lines in Airtable), break long lore into short responses (500+ Star Wars entities), handle misrecognitions by redirecting, collect intent metrics, and run 90-day beta tests or Wizard‑of‑Oz trials before public release.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:45Do One Thing Well
- 5:45Naming
- 7:29The Magic Door
- 10:39Three Clues
- 13:31Focus on Intents
- 17:27Simplify Choices
- 23:59One Breath Test
- 28:59Variety of Responses
- 35:39Handle Unexpectedly
- 38:50Metadata
- 40:25Help
- 41:59Beta Test
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