SF-AI-Agentforce-ConversationDesign Skill "Users don't fail conversations — conversations fail users." Conversation design is the discipline of crafting agent interactions that feel natural, resolve issues efficiently, and gracefully handle the unexpected. This skill brings structured conversation design methodology to Salesforce Agentforce, combining industry frameworks (Google, IBM, PatternFly) with Salesforce-specific implementation patterns. ⚡ Quick Start New agent? Start here: Design your persona → Persona Design Guide Architect your topics → Topic Architecture Guide Write instructions → Instruction Writing Guide Score your design → Quality Scorecard Existing agent needs improvement? Start here: Run the Quality Scorecard assessment Review Anti-Patterns for quick wins Build an Improvement Plan 📚 Document Map Tier 1 — Start Here Document Purpose This file (SKILL.md) Scoring rubric, methodology overview, core principles README.md Quick start, prerequisites, getting started Tier 1.5 — Reference Guides (Extracted) Document Purpose Scoring Rubric Full 8-category detailed criteria tables Quality Assessment Assessment process + quick health check Continuous Improvement Iteration cycle, KPIs, utterance analysis Tier 2 — Design Guides Document Purpose Persona Design Guide How to define agent personality, tone, and communication style Topic Architecture Guide Bottom-up topic design, classification descriptions, scope boundaries Instruction Writing Guide Three-level instruction framework with do's, don'ts, and examples Tier 3 — Reference Resources Document Purpose Conversation Patterns IBM's 5 patterns mapped to Agentforce implementation Industry Frameworks Google, IBM, PatternFly, Salesforce framework mappings Anti-Patterns Common mistakes with examples and fixes Guardrail Hierarchy Four-layer guardrail model for safety Escalation Patterns Trigger catalog and Omni-Channel routing Quality Metrics KPI definitions, benchmarks, measurement methods Tier 4 — Templates & Examples Document Purpose Persona Document Fill-in persona template Topic Architecture Topic mapping worksheet Utterance Library Structured utterance collection template Escalation Matrix Escalation decision matrix Quality Scorecard 120-point assessment template Improvement Plan Prioritized improvement template Service Agent Persona Example: SaaS customer service persona Retail Topic Architecture Example: retail agent topic hierarchy Healthcare Escalation Example: healthcare escalation matrix 🏆 Scoring System (120 Points) See references/scoring-rubric.md for the full per-criterion breakdown of all 8 categories. Category Summary

Category

Points

Weight

1

Persona & Tone

15

12.5%

2

Topic Architecture

20

16.7%

3

Instruction Quality

20

16.7%

4

Dialog Flow Design

15

12.5%

5

Utterance Coverage

15

12.5%

6

Escalation Design

15

12.5%

7

Guardrails & Safety

10

8.3%

8

Continuous Improvement

10

8.3%

TOTAL

120

100%

Grade Scale

Grade

Score Range

Description

A

108-120

Production-ready, exceptional design

B

96-107

Good design, minor gaps

C

84-95

Adequate, needs targeted improvements

D

72-83

Significant gaps, not production-ready

F

<72

Major redesign required

🎭 Persona Design

A persona defines your agent's personality, communication style, and behavioral constraints — the foundation for consistent, brand-aligned interactions.

Persona Components

Identity

— Name, role, department, target audience

Tone Register

— Casual, neutral, or formal (Agentforce setting)

Personality Traits

— 3-5 traits that shape response style

Communication Style

— Sentence length, vocabulary level, empathy patterns

Limitations

— What the agent explicitly will not do

Messages

— Welcome message and error/fallback message (<=800 chars each)

Salesforce Implementation

Agent Builder → Agent Settings → Instructions (Agent-Level)

Agent Builder → Agent Settings → Tone (Casual/Neutral/Formal)

Agent Builder → Channels → Welcome Message / Error Message

The persona lives primarily in

agent-level instructions

. Write them like training a new employee on Day 1 — focus on who they are and how they communicate, not on specific task procedures.

Deep Dive:

Persona Design Guide

|

Template:

Persona Document

|

Example:

Service Agent Persona

🏗️ Topic Architecture

Topics group related actions under classification descriptions for routing. Use

bottom-up design

list all actions → group by user intent → write classification descriptions → test for semantic distinctness.

Architecture Rules

Rule

Guideline

Rationale

Topic count

<=10 per agent

More topics = more classification ambiguity

Actions per topic

<=5 per topic

Keeps topics focused and testable

Classification overlap

<30% shared vocabulary

Prevents misrouting between similar topics

Scope boundaries

Explicit out-of-scope list

Prevents hallucination on unknown intents

Classification Descriptions

The single most important text in your agent design — they determine routing accuracy.

✅ GOOD: "This topic handles questions about existing order status, including

tracking information, estimated delivery dates, and order modification

requests. It does NOT handle new order placement or returns."

❌ BAD: "Order stuff"

Test:

Can you read two descriptions and immediately tell which utterance belongs where?

Deep Dive:

Topic Architecture Guide

|

Template:

Topic Architecture

|

Example:

Retail Topic Architecture

✍️ Instruction Writing

Instructions operate at three levels:

Agent-level

(persona, global rules, 200-500w),

Topic-level

(workflow logic, 100-300w),

Action-level

(when/how to invoke, 50-150w).

Core Principles

Guidance over determinism

— Guide reasoning, don't hard-code every decision. "Prioritize empathy and escalate if unresolved within 2-3 exchanges" vs scripting every anger keyword.

Positive framing

— "Always verify identity before accessing account details" not "Don't ever access without verifying."

Business principles, not decision trees

— If your instruction contains

if...then...else

with thresholds, it belongs in Flow/Apex.

Knowledge over hard-coding

— Use Knowledge actions (RAG) for policies, don't inline policy text in instructions.

Deep Dive:

Instruction Writing Guide

🔄 Dialog Flow Patterns

Every conversation follows a

six-phase lifecycle

Greeting → Classification → Gathering → Processing → Response → Close.

Key design rules:

Progressive disclosure

Max 2-3 choices per turn. If more options exist, ask a qualifying question first.

Context preservation

Reference prior turns, avoid re-asking for information already provided.

Error recovery

Define clarification prompts, disambiguation paths, and graceful fallbacks for every phase.

Explicit closing

Summarize what was accomplished, offer follow-up, farewell appropriate to tone. 📝 Utterance Design Utterances are test cases for your topic architecture — they validate that classification descriptions route correctly. Categories & Targets Category Purpose Target per Topic Happy Path Primary intent, clear phrasing

=5 Synonym Alternate vocabulary =3 Edge Case Ambiguous, multi-intent =2 Adversarial Injection, manipulation (global) =5 Out-of-Scope Should NOT match (global) =5 Process: Start with real data (CRM cases, chat logs) → brainstorm synonyms → add edge cases → include adversarial → test in Testing Center → iterate on failures. Template: Utterance Library 🚨 Escalation Design Escalation is not failure — it's a safety net ensuring customers always reach resolution. Trigger Catalog Trigger Type Condition Priority Explicit Customer requests human agent P1 Safety Self-harm, threats, emergency, legal P1 Sentiment Customer frustration or anger P2 Complexity 6 turns without resolution P2 Policy Request exceeds agent authority P2 Technical Action failure, system error P3 When escalating, pass: conversation transcript, customer identity, issue summary, actions taken, and escalation reason. Agentforce provides a pre-built Escalation Topic that routes via Omni-Channel. Deep Dive: Escalation Patterns | Template: Escalation Matrix 🛡️ Guardrails & Safety Safety operates through four layers: Einstein Trust Layer (platform — toxicity detection, PII masking, automatic), Topic Classification (scope boundaries as first defense), Instructions (behavioral constraints — "never provide legal/medical advice"), Flow/Apex (deterministic business rule enforcement). Critical Rule: Never rely on instructions alone for safety-critical decisions. Instructions are probabilistic. Financial limits, compliance checks, and approval gates MUST be in Flow or Apex. Deep Dive: Guardrail Hierarchy 📊 Quality Assessment & Continuous Improvement See references/quality-assessment.md for the full assessment process and 5-question quick health check. See references/continuous-improvement.md for the Monitor → Analyze → Fix → Retest → Deploy iteration cycle, KPI targets, and utterance analysis process. ⚠️ Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern Impact Fix 1 Negative instructions Confuses LLM reasoning Reframe positively 2 Over-constraining Rigid, brittle responses Use guiding principles 3 Business rules in instructions Inconsistent enforcement Move to Flow/Apex 4 Monolithic topics Poor classification accuracy Split into focused topics 5 Overlapping classifications Misrouting Make descriptions distinct 6 Missing escalation paths Dead-end conversations Define triggers for all failure modes 7 No utterance testing Untested classification Build utterance library 8 Hard-coded policies Stale information Use Knowledge actions 9 Ignoring context Repetitive re-asking Leverage conversation state 10 Happy-path-only testing Fragile in production Test edge cases and adversarial Deep Dive: Anti-Patterns — Full examples with before/after fixes. 🔗 Chain Integration This skill is the first step in the Agentforce development chain: From This Skill To Skill What's Handed Off Topic architecture sf-ai-agentscript Topic names, actions, classification descriptions Instruction sets sf-ai-agentscript Three-level instructions for agent script Utterance library sf-ai-agentforce-testing Test cases for multi-turn testing Escalation matrix sf-flow Escalation flow logic Action definitions sf-apex / sf-flow Action implementation requirements 📎 Credits & References Google Conversation Design Guidelines IBM Natural Conversation Framework Red Hat PatternFly AI Design System Salesforce Conversational AI Design Guide Salesforce Architect: Agentic Patterns & Taxonomy See CREDITS.md for full attribution.