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photo by Anton Yankovyi
Inspiration
Asking questions is a key to understanding Design Thinking and the process of how we make up our minds. When Alexa asks questions we may be in the car or in the bathroom ... we have time to reflect on the questions and be reminded of them. This Alexa skill is created in a story mode of a Sherpa leading you up the mountain to explore new ideas. The metaphor of walking and climbing suggests reflection. While you may read about Design Thinking, taking the time to go through the key points and the questions in a systematic way with as many repetitions as you may want is of great benefit.
What it does
The skill explains the Design Thinking process and helps a person apply it.
How I built it
The skill was built in part with the NodeJS Decision Tree design tool and other poetic coding. https://github.com/alexa/skill-sample-nodejs-decision-tree
Challenges I ran into
The designer tool needed to be reverse engineered and after working out the bugs it worked great. The dual focus of making the skill work technically and the human interaction to be engaging was a constant challenge.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
It seems to me that when Alexa talks about Design Thinking it feels like an important conversation. The interactions between the machine and the user feel like they are thought provoking.
What I learned
Conversation with Alexa, which is based on important questions, feels like a real thing.
What's next for Mind Sherpa: Explorer through Design Thinking
I'm wondering if adding a "quiz me" option at each checkpoint will be a way to help the user realize their progress. Also, it may be great to connect the checkpoints into a sequence that cannot be skipped, a successful quiz system would allow the entry to the next level. It would be great to create a web tutorial and activity, where this skill is an audio supplement for innovating specific problems.
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