"Having Lunch Now": Understanding How Users Engage with a Proactive Agent for Daily Planning and Self-Reflection

Abstract: Conversational agents have been studied as tools to scaffold planning and self-reflection for productivity and well-being. While prior work has demonstrated positive outcomes, we still lack a clear understanding of what drives these results and how users behave and communicate with agents that act as coaches rather than assistants. Such understanding is critical for designing interactions in which agents foster meaningful behavioral change. We conducted a 14-day longitudinal study with 12 participants using a proactive agent that initiated regular check-ins to support daily planning and reflection. Our findings reveal diverse interaction patterns: participants accepted or negotiated suggestions, developed shared mental models, reported progress, and at times resisted or disengaged. We also identified problematic aspects of the agent's behavior, including rigidity, premature turn-taking, and overpromising. Our work contributes to understanding how people interact with a proactive, coach-like agent and offers design considerations for facilitating effective behavioral change.