Skills – Page 2 – Cheryl Platz

Ecommerce, Enterprise Experiences, Information Architecture, Leadership, UX and Product Design

Azure Marketplace Gallery Filter

When we launched the new Azure Marketplace in January of 2017, we initially adopted the category control from AppSource.com, both for consistency and expediency on our tight timeline. After launch, however, customer feedback via verbatims and quantitative data began to suggest that our customers had a problem with wayfinding. The…

Cloud Services, Enterprise Experiences, Information Architecture, Leadership, UX and Product Design

Azure Partner UX Guidelines

When I returned to Microsoft in August 2016, I joined as the Design Lead for the Azure Framework. Our team of 4 full-time designers, 2 researchers, and a content writer - along with our studio head, who worked closely with us - were responsible for improving the user experience of…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Prototyping + Development, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa Skill: My Countdown

My second published Alexa skill was born from a request from a dear friend. We were planning a joint family trip to Disney World, and my goddaughter wanted to know how long until the big day. Wouldn't it be nice to have a skill to make it easier for her…

Conversational UI, Game Design, Leadership, Management, Multimodal Interfaces, Research, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Video Games, Voice Interfaces

Disney Friends DS

As Lead Producer on Disney Friends, I owned the vision and delivery of an ambitious new game that blended four unique cinematic universes with a single, cohesive gameplay mechanic. We became one of the first Nintendo DS titles to incorporate speech recognition, but had to do so in a way…

Ecommerce, Enterprise Experiences, UX and Product Design

Marketplace Landing Pages

In early 2017, analysis of the AppSource.com telemetry revealed a potentially significant problem with the landing experience on AppSource.com, which was launched prior to my time partnering with the team. In partnership with our marketing and merchandising product managers, I worked to help both the AppSource and Azure Marketplace teams…

Chatbots, Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Cross-Channel Experiences, Information Architecture, Leadership, Multimodal Interfaces, Service Design, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa Notifications and Interruption Model

Upon joining the central Alexa Voice Design team in late 2015, my first order of business was to tackle a complicated systems design problem: how could we adapt a primarily single-threaded, voice-forward, reactive experience to allow proactive notifications? There was a great deal of caution surrounding the effort, as our…

Cloud Services, Ecommerce, Enterprise Experiences, UX and Product Design

Azure Marketplace 2.0

In the fall of 2016, my responsibilities as the Azure Framework Design Lead expanded to include direct responsibility for our pro developer marketplaces. When we began, the only active marketplace in our purview was AppSource.com, but there was an immediate need to take the lessons learned on AppSource and apply…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Cross-Channel Experiences, Multimodal Interfaces, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa: Do Not Disturb

In parallel with our efforts on Alexa Notifications, I was asked to drive the completion of the Do Not Disturb feature. DND applied not just to Notifications but to Communications (calls/messaging), which meant a separate team of stakeholders and faster deadlines than the longer-term Notifications project. As with Alexa Notifications,…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Leadership, Prototyping + Development, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa Skill: Trainer Tips

When I joined the Alexa team, the Skills store was still in its infancy. One of my first responsibilities on the team was to perform skill submission reviews, which gave me a unique perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the early Skills platform. Still, I wanted to learn more…

Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Multimodal Interfaces, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Windows Automotive Notifications

Many of our in-vehicle apps needed to provide information to the driver, and expected the same interruption models they enjoy on mobile phones. However, in an automotive environment, interruptions threaten the driver’s safety. Our solutions had to work in a multimodal environment, with potential touch, voice or hardware input. We…