This project focused on designing the workflow experience for administrators managing access in a security platform. Our goal was to make complex automation feel clear, guided, and trustworthy for IT Admins.
Project Duration: 6 months
Impact: Achieved a 30% reduction in support tickets due to workflow errors. This boosted operational efficiency and accelerated feature adoption.
The platform offered powerful automation, but overly flexible workflows and complex system logic led to frequent configuration errors and high operational overhead. Admins struggled to predict the downstream impact of their actions, making critical workflows feel risky to deploy.
I conducted research to validate whether lack of clarity and fear of mistakes were the primary barriers preventing admins from confidently using complex security systems.
Research confirmed that the lack of clarity was the root issue. Many admins stated they weren’t sure where to start or what complex actions would trigger. They perceived the powerful system as intimidating, confirming that fear of making a mistake was the core barrier to utilization.
The problem was not complexity alone, but the risk created when admins could not confidently predict the impact of their actions.
This uncertainty resulted in high levels of error-related support tickets and significant operational overhead.
Initially, I gave users full control over the workflow configuration to accommodate diverse admin use cases. I used drag-and-drop to make workflow structure explicit, in-context tooltips to clarify system logic at the point of action, and a comprehensive action panel to expose all available controls, assuming that flexibility and visibility would increase admin confidence.
However, validation revealed that this flexibility-first approach was not producing the confidence we expected. I validated the initial design through three approaches: (1) user feedback, (2) competitive analysis, and (3) identifying system breakpoints. These efforts moved validation beyond identifying surface-level usability issues and uncovered a deeper problem. The core issue was not system complexity itself, but the absence of clear entry points and predictable outcomes, which amplified admins’ fear of making irreversible mistakes.
Based on this insight, I shifted the hypothesis from “flexibility first” to “guided decision-making,” and redesigned the workflow around clear paths, safe defaults, and contextual guidance that help admins understand impact before taking action.
These insights led us to redefine the experience around three UX principles that balance clarity with control.
I iterated on the design to ensure workflows were predictable, context was easily understood, and impact was visible before decisions were made.
I made the final design by weighing these trade offs across the admin’s setup, interaction, and audit flow.
The “Guided Context” approach reduced operational workload by 25% and decreased “how-to” support tickets. Admins also reported higher confidence:
“I feel safer now.”
“I’m not afraid I’ll break something.”
“It’s finally clear what I have to do next.”
Confidence is not a “soft” metric. It drives adoption, accuracy, and business outcomes.
I would suggest designing AI as a Security Copilot. Evolving current design into an AI-assisted admin experience, starting with an agent that can take inputs and return actionable configuration.
