Hi Coda Community!
I know this is not usually what is usually posted here but here it is: I have a doc idea that I think could be useful to many users and could maybe be added to the template gallery once completed.
The concept is simple, it’s following a certain path, answering yes-no questions to solve an issue. Here’s the example doc I started below:
This could then be used in many other contexts (solving issues around other scenarios).
Only problem, I’m not sure what to start (structure wise) and don’t really have the time either. So…
If you happen to have some time to play with this then enjoy the challenge! Thank you
Unfortunately, yes/no questions are generally not enough to provide guidance on any specific action unless they are of a specific domain of knowledge. And even a highly focused topic of knowledge will reveal shortfalls that cannot be easily overcome in terms of the codification of the pathways to a conclusion about the question.
This is [partly] why AI and NLP (natural language processing) converge to create smart systems that act like conversational problem-solvers. In that sense, @Paul_Danyliuk’s idea is probably a good place to start.
In terms of practicality, Coda is an ideal place to experience conversational activities with machine learning or with other collaborators, but not well-suited for building such an expert system using formulas. Decision trees based on conditional states would require massively complex formulas. The way forward likely requires integration with a system such as Dialog Flow which would allow you to map linguistic patterns, user intent, and entities to determine how best to respond to conversations.
This approach does not rule out simple yes/no answers to questions, but specifically rules in ways to address queries that people will type unexpectedly, thus providing a more productive experience for getting answers.
But there’s a key requirement for a smart system or any sort of conversational process in Coda - the need for real-time interaction with services outside Coda. This suggests that it would need access to a real-time network (such as Ably or PubNub) and event handlers that make such interactions instant (humans hate waiting for more than 500ms when chatting).
It’s a really interesting idea and you may be able to at least prototype the concept in Coda. Certainly you can design and document the idea in Coda.
Hi @Jay_Lefebvre,
if you would like to start with something definitely easier than @Paul_Danyliuk’s excellent implementation and focusing on actual YES/NO predefined workflows, have a look on this:
It’s very basic, but - as in your doc - if you know in advance the workflow, you let the user to have a single YES/NO no-brainer at a time.
Let me know it this helps.
Cheers
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Cool approach - I should’a said -
> … prototype the concept in Coda in minutes.
"
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Well, @Bill_French: let’s see if this was @Jay_Lefebvre’s intention
Maybe I just misunderstood the whole thing!
Thank you @Federico_Stefanato and @Bill_French for your answers, I didn’t expect someone to reply to be honest I was indeed looking for something not too complicated (meaning: not looking to build some AI/intent behaviour patterns). Frederico’s solution seems like a good start, I like the way the patterns are structured. This will mainly be used to quickly solve minor issues and take decisions faster. I’ll post the result here when I’m done building it. Thank you!
Nothing wrong with simple and effective. Good luck with your project and enjoy the journey.
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Happy it was useful!
This community is actually incredibly responsive and helpful.
And there are a number of senior members that really speed up performance and productivity (@Bill_French and @Paul_Danyliuk among them).
Do let me know if you need some specific changes: that one was a basic example that can improve quite a lot: I use myself the same pattern for status changes in tasks management.
Enjoy!
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