Systems that hold a conversation.
WHAT THE COMPONENTS ARE
Understanding what was said Tracking the state of the conversation Deciding what to do next Generating a response
WHAT STATE TRACKING DOES
Remembers what has been established across turns.
WHY IT MATTERS MOST
Without it, every turn is treated in isolation and the system feels broken.
WHAT TO DESIGN FIRST
The tasks the system will actually complete.
WHY
A system that converses but completes nothing is worse than a form.
WHAT TO HANDLE EXPLICITLY
Not understanding Ambiguity requiring clarification The user changing their mind The user asking something out of scope Repeated failure
WHAT TO DO ON REPEATED FAILURE
Hand over to a person, promptly.
WHY
Trapping someone in a loop is the commonest complaint about these systems.
WHAT TO NEVER DO
Conceal that it is automated Claim capability it does not have
WHAT TO MEASURE
Task completion rate, not conversation length.
WHAT TO LOG
Failures, so gaps are identified.
WHAT TO REVIEW
Transcripts, regularly.
WHAT THEY REVEAL
What users actually want, which differs from what was designed for.
