Agent OS: First Bill
Internal tool designed for Spectrum agents to assist residential customers’ calls related to their first bill and charges.
UX Designer
Role
1 Week
Timeline
Figma, Axure & Miro
Tools
GV Design Sprint
Methodology
What’s Design Sprint?
Team Structure
Our organization was structured into three omni teams, each running design sprints to solve distinct parts of a larger challenge: creating Agent OS, a next-generation tool to replace the legacy Gateway system. As a member of Omni Team 2, I focused on streamlining how agents support customers during self-installation and repair scenarios.
FACILITATOR
UX DIRECTOR
4 UX DESIGNERS
2 UI DESIGNERS
2 CONTENT DESIGNERS
4 SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
3 UX RESEARCHERS
3 DECIDERS
Overview
Spectrum billing agents are receiving a great volume of calls from Spectrum residential customers related to first their bill. Research was conducted to uncover the first bill related paint points from both agents’ and customers’ perspective.
Problem Space
There is a break in the experience between sales and customer service for our customers. Charges are unclear or unexpected (one-time charges, installation fees, services they didn’t ask for, etc.). Confusion exists for customers around ‘free trials’ and how they are charged. Agents spend a majority of their time educating customers versus performing any actions.
Hypothesis
We believe that building one, inclusive tool that provides relevant, transparent and accessible information about the first month’s bill to Agents will streamline the workflow so they can address customer questions, provide transparency and improve the consumer experience.
Day 1
GOALS
• Understand the problem and the user’s pain points
• Pick an important area to focus on
• Start at the end by mapping a possible end-to-end user scenario
First Bill Examples
Explore the carousel below.
How Might We?
Below are the questions need to answer as a designer in order to be able to turn customer’s challenges and paint points into opportunities for design.
Day 2
GOALS
• Competitor analysis
• Identifying the critical screen
• Sketch out competing solutions
Lightning Demos
As part of our lightning demos, each designer had 30 minutes to explore competitor solutions. Because internal tools aren’t available publicly, we focused instead on uncovering what leading companies in our space do well and what makes their approaches effective. We shared our findings in breakout rooms, discussed key takeaways, and voted on the top three ideas to present back to the broader team. The following are the insights I contributed.
Verizon
What immediately caught my attention was Verizon’s elegant use of a toggle to separate high-level information from detailed content. Knowing we’d soon face a similar challenge of displaying complex data, I began thinking about how we could design an information hierarchy that highlights the most important details without overwhelming users. Many solutions use expandable sections or carets, but Verizon’s approach offered a fresh and inspiring perspective.
Website Hosting
This screenshot was taken on one of the hosting websites. I found a lot of pros of how data is being presented and compared based on a number of criteria listed on the left-hand side.
What caught my eye instantly is the visuals used in the table to communicate what features are available/unavailable. This solution is very refreshing, as it differs from commonly used checkmarks of a regular body font color.
Pega Customer Service
I found this design very applicable to the topic of our design sprint as it also relates to communications and media. Therefore I found this case particularly interesting. I really like how the data here was broken into sections by the lines of business. What I found confusing were the dashes used instead of numbers. Are they implying no charges were made for lines of business associated with the account?
Crazy 8s
In the Crazy 8s round, each participant rapidly sketched different takes on their top ideas and refined them into a 3-panel solution sketch. We regrouped in breakout sessions to share, discuss, and vote on the strongest concepts to showcase later during the Art Museum activity. The following sketch is the one I presented to my team.
Solution Sketches
Once our team selected a few standout concepts for the Art Museum activity, we showcased them to the broader group. The deciders joined the call to review each idea and vote on the ones that best addressed the problem.
Day 3
GOALS
• Make decisions
• Turn ideas into a testable hypothesis
• Storyboarding
Storyboarding
We kicked off the day with a storyboarding session. Each participant mapped out their user story to visualize the end-to-end experience and then shared it in breakout rooms for feedback. The storyboard below is the one I created and presented to the broader group.
A few other teams came up with some really fun and creative storyboards! I’m so glad I trusted my instinct to take a screenshot, now I get to share them here. 
Day 4
GOALS
• Creating a realistic prototype
Prototype
SCENARIOS
1. Identify Bill Details
A customer calls to understand the charges on their first bill.
“I just received my first bill from Spectrum, and it’s over $150. I want to know why it’s so high.”
2. Identify Charges Change
A customer calls because their bill is higher than what they were quoted at the time of purchase.
“I just got my first bill from Spectrum, and it’s over $200 – much higher than what I was told when I signed up. Why am I being charged so much?”
Day 5
GOALS
• Validate assumptions
• Get feedback from real users
Usability Testing Overview
Three rounds of usability testing were conducted at the end of the Agent OS: First Bill design sprint. After each round, the design team iterated on the prototype based on user feedback and key insights. The test plan was refined for every subsequent round (see attachments below). This evolving approach also helped demonstrate the value of testing directly with users rather than relying solely on subject-matter experts (as in the initial round).
usability testing
Test Format
Remote moderated testing took place over 45 minute sessions. Participants were asked to imagine they were responding to a new customer who had called about their First Bill. All Billing Agents who participated were asked to explain how they felt the tool would impact their workflow on a daily basis.
12 participants in total gave feedback
2
Oct
2020
ROUND 1
5 Call Center and UAT SMEs
Remote
WebEx
7
Oct
2020
ROUND 2
4 Tenured Billing Agents
Remote
WebEx
14
Oct
2020
ROUND 3
3 Nesting Billing Agents
Remote
WebEx
Affinity Map
During each testing session, sprint participants observed users and recorded their notes on a shared Miro board, mapped directly over the interface screens (see link below). After each round, the team collaboratively organized these observations through affinity mapping to identify key themes and insights.
Key Trends
From the affinity mapping, the team identified key takeaways that aligned closely with the testing goals. During the final round of usability testing (October 14th), the following trends emerged:
