Introduction to ChatBots
One thing that I've learned over the years is that communication is key. Whether it's with your boss, co-workers, or family members, the best way to get things done quickly and efficiently is by having a good grasp on what's going on around you. This can be achieved through various means: status updates from project managers, meeting agendas from event planners - but there are a few other ways to make sure you're always in the know.
ChatOps?
Yes! The idea of using the communication platforms to mull over the problem and it's solution, write some code together if required but ultimately ask the bot listening in on the slack room to carry out the working tasks or report on the issues, bringing many brains and ideas to a given problem with the fastest team member at the helm... the computer! But how can we even start to build this world?
Automation
Automation is a key part of DevOps, and it's also a key part of ChatOps. Automation can be done in many different ways, but it all boils down to saving time and effort by reducing the need for human intervention. In this section we'll look at some common types of automation, as well as how you can implement them using your favourite chatbot tool.
Communication is Key
Communication is the key to any successful team. Teams need to communicate with each other in order to work effectively and efficiently. Communication ensures that all members of your team are on the same page, which results in a better working environment for everyone.
You might be thinking “But I already have a lot going on! Why would I want more work?” Well, there’s no need to worry about that! Automating communication within your organisation can actually help take some of the stress off of your plate by taking care of some tasks automatically for you. By automating communication within your organisation, you will be able to:
- Be more organised
- Save time
- Decrease costs
Going further and saving Time (and Money) with automated replies
Automation is a key part of DevOps, ChatOps and Slack. It is also a big component of the Teams platform. Automation can save time by executing tasks on your behalf—and more importantly it frees you up to focus on what matters most for your business.
I’ve been using automation for years now, but I’ve also noticed that many people don’t know much about it—or how they can use it in their day-to-day lives.
Smaller Modular Pieces are Key!
There are many other little things that I can do to make my life at the office easier. But I started small.
Given what I've said so far, it might seem like I'm a big fan of automation. But that's not the case. If you're anything like me (and if you're in my office, there's a good chance that you are), then you probably don't have the time or energy to spend on automating your communication. And even if you did, there are plenty of reasons why it might not be worth your while:
- You're not technically-inclined enough to pull off any kind of technical solution
- Your boss has a vested interest in having more than one human on his team
- Your co-workers might resent seeing their responsibilities automated
Tuning the Symphony
For example, if someone adds me to a channel that they created at work, it will mark it as read immediately. And if anyone messages me directly and mentions the word _"status"_ it would reply with a link to a website with our current status.
I’m sure you get the idea – I automated all of my communication so that I wouldn't have to waste any time reading what other people were saying or replying to them when I didn't want to.
Some other ideas that I came up with (which I might implement in the very near future), could be anything from automatically changing my presence depending on what application I'm using, maybe even integrating HipChat with my Calendar so people can see when I'm busy/not busy, etc.
Integrate HipChat with your calendar
- Automatically change presence when you're busy
- Automatically reply to messages mentioning a keyword
- Automatically add people to channels based on keywords in their message (or another channel or group)
- Automatically mark messages as read
The possibilities are endless!
So now that you have a better sense of how automation can be used, let's talk about some of the possibilities. You could automate almost anything! Maybe you want an email sent out each morning when you arrive at work; maybe you want to set up an automatic reminder for the first day of each month to pay all of your bills. Or perhaps you want to create a notification on Facebook every time someone tags one of your posts in Instagram—it's up to you!
The only limit here is your imagination (and perhaps technical limitations). To start small and then build up, try creating one automated task per week as part of your routine maintenance. This will give you enough time to master each step before moving onto another thing that needs automation. You'll also find that it gets easier as time goes by because once these tasks are automated they'll become habits and less thought-intensive than they once were (which means more space for creativity).
Since most of our communication is done online through various chat applications at work, it was an interesting experiment to see how far I can push automation in order to save time and effort.
As most of our communication is done online through various chat applications at work, it was an interesting experiment to see how far I can push automation in order to save time and effort.
I started off by creating a bot that would reply to messages containing the words "automate" or "automated". Then, I added another trigger for my bot: the word "test". When anyone sends me a message with either one of these words in it, my bot automatically starts sending them responses from some examples provided by IBM Watson. It turns out that there are lots of interesting articles about different ways you can use machine learning technology in your daily life. Some examples include: recipes for dinner tonight based on what's in your fridge and what you're craving; recommendations for books based on your favourite authors; or even finding new music artists whose style fits your tastes better than Taylor Swift's music!
Wrap Up!
As you can see, there are many possibilities when it comes to automating your communication. It's not just limited to Slack or HipChat either; there are other products out there that do similar things like FlowDock (which I think is awesome!). So if this type of thing sounds interesting to you, why not give it a try? Who knows where it could lead?