interactIVResponse
IVR Development Tips - #2 Release Notes Will Keep You Out of Trouble
By Sean White, Pronexus Telecom Support Engineer, Pronexus
We have all been “there”. Our new purchase has just arrived. Something we have been anticipating for some time, it’s newer and better than anything before. We tear open the package and get right to playing with our new toy, when we hit a snag. It doesn’t work as we expect it should. After several attempts to use our relevant knowledge to make things work, we give in to our frustration and reluctantly contact our point of sale to seek assistance.
Often times we will research project requirements in such a way that we only see what our end-result should be. This is what we want the tools of our trade to accomplish. For example; we know we need firewood to keep warm this winter, we even know it must be a certain length to fit into the woodstove properly. However, we find that we can’t cut down the tree because the new chainsaw purchased for this job won’t start, no matter how many times we pull the starting cord.
Too often, the steps that follow are:
- Throw chainsaw at tree
- Use inventive curse words
- Return defective chainsaw to point of sale
The step that could have saved us time, effort and resources has been missed in all of this, and that is to read the documentation. This is something that we are all guilty of, whether it be the user guide for our new chainsaw, a new cell phone, or in the case of software, Release Notes.
Let’s face it, user guides and manuals (in general) are lengthy, preachy forms of literature which we expect cover what we already know. This is quite often based on previous experience with similar products. So why bother wasting the time?
The fact is that software changes from one update to the next, even more so from one version to the next. Simply put; what worked in the past one way, may work differently now.
As a foundation-building element to an effective IVR solution, Release Notes are a vital tool for system design and application deployment. Key information is provided in Release Notes so that you don’t have to already know a product inside and out. This way, you can be sure that your development environment is supported, is expected to work as designed, and that what is produced from hours of design time is in a compatible environment when you are ready to deploy.
What a great way to get rid of the “should’ve-could’ve” scenario, and instead trust that we have the tools we need, working the way they were meant to. Sometimes we will find that we missed a step which could have saved a lot of time and headaches….. such as a safety feature on a chainsaw which prevents drop-starting the saw, and subsequently, the potential of resulting injury.
IVR Development Tips - #2 Release Notes Will Keep You Out of Trouble
As you say Sean, we’ve all been there… I think having a certain level of expertise encourages you to start playing with software, IVR development or other, without taking the time to read release notes or install guides. However, when embarking on an IVR development project, reading the release notes (as well as the install guide) is a good practice that all should follow. There is other important documentation that will help you develop a better IVR solution, but reading release notes provides some baseline information that will save you a lot of headaches. E.g. if you read the release notes, you won’t try to install the IVR development environment on an unsupported platform which can cause problems down the road.
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