CASE STUDY
Task tracking: Helping tax pros capture future work so it appears when needed
The Challenge
Tax pros waste time trying to uncover what they should be working on next for each return, which results in lower efficiency and decreased client conversion.
The Solution
A task list feature that allows tax pros to track, manage, and prioritize their current or upcoming work.
View the design
MY ROLE
UX Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
TIMELINE
June 2025 - Jan 2026
COLLABORATORS
1 product manager
1 content strategist
4 developers
IMPACT
~7% increase in work completed per hour and 2,000+ hours saved
My process
Research & discovery
Reviewed existing data and determined additional qualitative and quantititative research was needed to understand user behavior, pain points & challenges for current work tracking.
Definition & ideation
Finalized synthesis and mapped user journeys to highlight major friction points and potential solutions to our core problem.
Design & test
Explored multiple design solutions & tested it with tax professionals to understand usability and desirability before moving into detailed design.
Develop & release
Adjusted final designs based on feedback & annotated before handing off to development. After launch, we monitored performance and have continued iterating on the experience.
Research
WHAT WE WANTED TO LEARN
We didn't have a clear picture of how tax pros structured their day, what external tools they leaned on to organize and prioritize work, or where the current experience was failing them. Before we could design a solution, we needed to understand the full context of how work was currently managed.
METHODOLOGIES
- 13 one-on-one interviews with tax pros and leaders
- Survey of 100+ tax pros
- Heatmap analysis of our current tool
WHAT WE LEARNED
INSIGHT
Time to work on returns is extremely limited due to appointment load
- Majority of tax pros spend up to 80% of their day in client appointments, often leaving as few as four 30-minute blocks to work on outstanding returns.
INSIGHT
Paper lists were the preferred method for tracking work
- ~90% of users kept a paper to-do list because it was fast to capture and felt rewarding as they crossed items off. However, it wasn't confidential and couldn't be tracked or connected to each client's profile.
INSIGHT
Tax pros relied on memory to understand the next step for each return
- While tax pros could always see the status of each return, remembering what to do next for each return required digging through the system, their lists, or relying on memory.
How might we help tax pros capture current and future tasks so they can confidently and quickly complete work?
Definition & ideation
MAPPING THE USER JOURNEY
Knowing that the actions a tax pro takes is dependent on the status of the return, we needed to outline the tax pro process and journey for working on returns in different statuses.
KEY ELEMENTS OF THE JOURNEY
- Phases: Splits the journey into what the tax pro is doing before, during, and after they work on a return in a specific status
- Steps: The high level action a tax pro is taking while working on a return in a specific status
- Jobs to be done: The task(s) the tax pro and/or client is trying to accomplish while working on a return in a specific status
- Experience score: A rating (backed by our quantitative research) capturing how the tax pro feels while working on a return in a specific status
- Pain Points: The frustration(s) tax pros and/or clients feel when a return is in a specific status
- Opportunties: Possibilities worth exploring to help alleviate the pain points tax pros feel while working on returns in each status
- Solutions: Specific feature ideas that support the opportunities identified for each status
USER JOURNEY TEMPLATE
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IDEATING + PRIORITIZING SOLUTIONS
Since our research uncovered tax pro behavior across the return preparation process, there were many ideas we could go after. We explored organizing returns differently in the tax pro's main dashboard, presenting different information about the return on the dashboard and in the return details, and incorporating a task list into the return so tax pros could track what to do next.
The task list was most desireable for tax pros as they could track other to-do's even outside of returns, so we pursued that solution first.
Design & test
DESIGNING THE TASK LIST
Using Figma, we quickly designed the solution with key features based on the research we conducted.
KEY FEATURES & REASONING
- Organizing tasks by today, tomorrow, & future: Since tax pros are most often checking what needs done throughout the day and what needs done tomorrow near the end of the day
- Adding standalone or return tasks: Since not every task is related to a return, but most are
- Assigning tasks to peers: Since certain return statuses require action from a leader or a different tax pro
- Completing tasks: Since the tax pro wants the satisfaction of crossing items off, similar to their current paper list
- Dragging to prioritize tasks: Since task priority changes throughout the day as random tasks pop up
TESTING & ITERATING ON THE SOLUTION
We tested our solution with 6 participants to see if they could successfully locate, add, edit, assign, re-order, and complete standalone and return-related tasks. Our key learning was that majority of users didn't realize that they could add tasks to a return (instead of just standalone), so we needed to make that key functionality more discoverable before handoff.
Develop & release
ROLLOUT
To test the effectiveness of this feature, we launched it to about 100 pilot offices to see how key performance metrics compared to other offices similar in size and return volume.
IMPACT & RESULTS
- +7% increase in returns completed per hour during the test period
- 2,000+ hours saved during the test period
NEXT STEPS
While the pilot did well, adoption was lower than expected because it was released later than expected. Since tax season had already started, tax pros were limited on time to learn the tool and add tasks. For our next phase, which is set to pilot in July 2026, we will be placing automated tasks on their board based on the status of a return. This should limit the need for tax pros to add or prioritize tasks, which should result in additional time savings.
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