Design and Evaluation of Intelligent Agent Prototypes for
Assistance with Focus and Productivity at Work

productivity in the workplace

Schedule and manage time

monitor distractions

Text-based agent similar to a chat bot

134% more time with the TB
prototype, and 110% more time with the VA prototype

messages and other
kinds of disruptions have become a serious problem for keeping
focused

interruptions has
been very well documented

[14] found that when
information workers were interrupted by conversation, they were
more likely to return to work on more peripheral tasks like email
and web searches, rather than resume their previous

She first asks how the user is feeling wherein the user would
be given six different options in a drop-down menu to choose from
(Happy, Sad, Stressed, Calm/Neutral, Focused, or Frustrated).

also wanted to
investigate the impact that a more human-like agent with more
emotional intelligence would have on user perceptions, as well
as their focus and productivity.

Furthermore, emotional intelligence in
agents has been shown to help alleviate negative emotions, like
frustration

in an organizational setting, anthropomorphic ap-
pearance in agents was also shown to increase users perceptions

of the agents usefulness

agents we developed was to design an intelligent assistant that
could support the user’s task-related goals and help them better
focus on their high priority tasks, which would hopefully promote
better productivity and emotional well-being at work.

that task scheduling, task

switching and reminders, task re-attachment, and dealing with dis-
tractions were the most important skills to be incorporated in a

productivity assistant.