Agent Workflow & Policy Change Experience

This study examined agent workflows for policy changes in a regulated insurance system, identifying breakdowns and opportunities to scale research insights.

Timeline
July – October 2025

Role
UX Researcher

Problem

Policy changes required agents to navigate fragmented workflows, increasing cognitive load and the risk of errors. While anecdotal feedback existed, there was no standardized way to consistently gather agent insights or validate design decisions through research.

Key challenges:

  • Complex, non-linear workflows

  • High error sensitivity due to policy constraints

  • Limited structure for ongoing agent research

Research Goals

  • Understand real-world agent workflows and pain points

  • Identify moments of friction, confusion, and rework

  • Establish a repeatable research process for future testing

  • Translate insights into actionable system improvements

Research Approach

In collaboration with a senior UX designer, researcher, and the customer experience team, I conducted moderated user interviews and usability testing sessions with insurance agents. The sessions focused on real policy change tasks to surface behavioral patterns and decision-making processes.

To make research scalable, I developed a standardized research outreach template for recruiting agents, streamlining scheduling, and ensuring consistent insights across sessions.

View Template Here

Key Insights

  • Agents frequently switched between systems to verify information, increasing task time and mental load

  • Lack of clear system feedback made it difficult to confirm whether changes were applied correctly

  • Agents relied heavily on institutional knowledge rather than system guidance

  • Errors often stemmed from unclear sequencing rather than missing information

Impact

  • Research findings directly informed the redesign of the policy change workflow, leading to:

    • Clearer task sequencing and system feedback

    • Reduced opportunity for errors during policy updates

    • A reusable research framework that enabled ongoing agent feedback and validation

    Collaborating closely with the senior UX designer, researcher, and CX team ensured the recommendations were aligned with both user needs and business priorities.

Learnings & Takeaways

This project reinforced the value of embedding research within regulated, high-stakes systems. Working alongside the senior UX designer, researcher, and CX team not only improved immediate workflows but also created a foundation for continuous, user-centered insights that can scale across teams.