{"id":26757,"date":"2016-07-07T23:30:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T15:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=26757"},"modified":"2016-07-07T23:04:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T15:04:07","slug":"managing-ux-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/managing-ux-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Recognize &#038; Manage UX Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>User experience debt inevitably happens over time. It\u2019s the sum of <strong>overdue design and usability tasks<\/strong> derived from things like quick business decisions, design shortcuts, missed opportunities, time constraints, and other factors.<\/p>\n<p>User experience debt is called a debt as it\u2019s similar to real-life debt; we get something in the present, but only <strong>pay for it in the future<\/strong>. Until the debt is paid off, <strong>interest rates<\/strong> arise as a permanent cost.<\/p>\n<p>User experience debt \u2013 along with its close cousin, technical debt \u2013 is a <strong>design <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimization-coding-antipatterns\/\">antipattern<\/a> that reduces the quality of a project. As user experience debt is a less widely discussed topic, besides it\u2019s not always easy to recognize it, in this article we are taking a closer look at it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"note\"><strong>Read more: <\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimization-coding-antipatterns\/\">10 coding antipatterns developers should avoid<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Technical Debt vs. UX Debt<\/h2>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/brainslink.com\/2013\/03\/technical-debt-isnt-the-only-type-of-debt-you-need-to-avoid\/\" target=\"_blank\">different types of debts<\/a> in web development. The most well-known is <strong>technical debt<\/strong> that\u2019s defined by <a href=\"https:\/\/css-tricks.com\/defining-and-dealing-with-technical-debt\/#article-header-id-0\" target=\"_blank\">CSS Tricks<\/a> as <em>\"the sum of <strong>compromises<\/strong> we make when writing code during the development process\"<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Later in our workflow, we will need to deal with the <strong>consequences of these compromises<\/strong>, which means extra work in the future.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/managing-ux-debt\/technical-debt.jpg\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" alt=\"Technical Debt\"><figcaption class=\"entry-image-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/featureflags.io\/management\/\" target=\"_blank\">IMAGE: FeatureFlags.io<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Technical debt is not about outright bugs, but about the fact that even with the best coding practices it\u2019s impossible to fully future-proof a code, however efficient <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimisation-why-you-need-it\/\" target=\"_blank\">code optimization<\/a> can certainly help.<\/p>\n<p>Using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimization-coding-antipatterns\/\" target=\"_blank\">antipatterns<\/a>, coding shortcuts, ineffective architecture, or hard-to-manage dependencies can all add to technical debt, but the point is that even in an optimal, hypothetical ideal scenario it\u2019s impossible to avoid it \u2013 as future incompatibilities, needs, and issues are unpredictable. That\u2019s why refactoring is recommended after a while.<\/p>\n<p class=\"note\"><strong>Must-Read:<\/strong>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/code-optimization-series-refactoring-css\/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Refactor CSS \u2013 A Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<p>User experience debt is similar to technical debt in the sense that it:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> can\u2019t be avoided (althought it can be reduced)<\/li>\n<li>is hard to recognize<\/li>\n<li>can jeopardize the success of a project.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>User experience debt is a wider category than <strong>usability debt<\/strong>, as it\u2019s not solely about how usable a website or application is, but also about <strong>the way users experience your product<\/strong> \u2013 whether they find it entertaining, helpful rewarding, or whatever feeling you want to invoke in your target audience.<\/p>\n<p>User experience encompasses usability, as a hard-to-use site won\u2019t make users feel comfortable, and the same way, UX debt encompassess usability debt as well.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there aren\u2019t many online resources on usability debt and user experience debt, but here are some I\u2019ve found useful, and helped me form my views on the topic:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Catriona Cornett<\/strong>, the director of Product Design at SalesforceIQ on <em>how to effectively address usability debt<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/iq-design\/how-to-effectively-address-the-usability-debt-within-your-product-6b8693e6e853#.szclt1cm1\" rel=\"nofollow\">read here<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>TryMyUI\u2019s<\/strong> blog on <em>how to avoid UX debt crisis<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trymyui.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/21\/how-to-avoid-a-ux-debt-crisis\/\">read here<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>User Experience Professionals Association<\/strong> on their approach on UX debt with a recommendation on <em>how to calculate its volume<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/uxpamagazine.org\/ux-debt-in-the-enterprise\/\">read here<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Andrew Wright\u2019s<\/strong> <em>explanation and classification of UX debt<\/em> on nForm Blog (<a href=\"http:\/\/nform.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/user-experience-debt\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">read here<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Among all the possible illustrations I could find on UX debt, this is pretty much the best choice as I think it concisely shows its gist.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/managing-ux-debt\/ux-debt-pyramid.jpg\" width=\"700\" height=\"411\" alt=\"UX Debt Pyramid\"><figcaption class=\"entry-image-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/andr3wjwright\/ias14-uxdebt\/12-IA_Summit_March_30_2014\" target=\"_blank\">IMAGE: Andrew Wright\u2019s slideshow: User Experience Debt (slide 12)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>User experience debt can be defined as the <strong>difference between the experience quality of your current, and  optimal product<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>UX debt is <strong>more subjective than technical debt<\/strong>, as it\u2019s you (or your client) who decides the quality you want to achieve. For instance, you can target the <em>\"functional\"<\/em> level for a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Minimum_viable_product\" target=\"_blank\">minimum viable product<\/a>, but you can also set high (but usually costly) standards by <strong>targeting the <em>\"pleasurable\"<\/em> level for a premium product<\/strong> \u2013 it all depends on your goals.<\/p>\n<p>Technical debt is different in the sense that in many cases poorly managed code <strong>simply stops working<\/strong>. With UX debt, there are <strong>no such drastic changes<\/strong>, yet this is not only a perk but also a threat as it <strong>makes  this kind of debt easier to neglect<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Recognize UX Debt<\/h2>\n<p>To manage UX debt, at first we need to recognize it. There are two kinds of UX debt, intentional and unintentional.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em>Intentional UX debt<\/em> is <strong>the result of our conscious decisions<\/strong> when we <strong>lack money, time, training<\/strong>, or other resources, or when we are <strong>forced to follow outside rules<\/strong>. Good ideas we lose in midst of rushed work also contributes to intentional UX debt.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s easy to see that intentional UX debt <strong>can occur at any time<\/strong> over the lifecycle of a product.<\/li>\n<li><em>Unintentional UX debt<\/em> <strong>arises from false assumptions we make about our users<\/strong>. More often than not we tend to think we know what our users want, like, or are able to use, and we build our whole site (app, product, etc.) on this <strong>presumed knowledge<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>A good amount of unintentional UX debt arises at the <strong>beginning of the product life cycle<\/strong>, and it <strong>naturally increases over time<\/strong>. Unintentional UX debt is much harder to catch, as we need to <strong>get rid of our need to justify our assumptions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So how does UX debt looks like in real life? When users can\u2019t or don\u2019t want to use our site because of poor user experience. They simply <strong>don\u2019t get engaged<\/strong>; we <strong>can\u2019t catch their attention and interest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The manifestation of UX debt differs from site to site, but if we have a <strong>decreasing conversion rate<\/strong> or an <strong>increasing bounce rate<\/strong> in most cases we can suspect that we have accumulated a nice amount of UX debt.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Manage UX Debt<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s <strong>no universal recipe<\/strong> to manage UX debt effectively, as many things depends on subjective characteristics, however it\u2019s worth taking a look at how others deal with the issue in order to find our own way.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, <strong>Catriona Cornett<\/strong>, the Product Design Director of SalesforceIQ <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/iq-design\/how-to-effectively-address-the-usability-debt-within-your-product-6b8693e6e853#.nz4idqspb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">shows the 5 step process<\/a> they use to manage usability debt at SalesforceIQ.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s see it briefly so that we can assess how well we can apply it to our own workflow.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Define a <strong>shared language<\/strong> for discussing usability issues.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Find<\/strong> and <strong>gather<\/strong> usability issues.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Organize<\/strong> and <strong>classify<\/strong> the usability issues.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prioritize<\/strong> usability improvements.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Measure<\/strong> the impact of improvements.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>User experience is a wider area than usability, but I think the workflow above can effectively applied to it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrew Wright<\/strong> comes with a slightly different management workflow in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/andr3wjwright\/ias14-uxdebt\/73-IA_Summit_March_30_2014\" target=\"_blank\">his UX Debt presentation<\/a>, and he recommends a 4 step process to deal with UX debt.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Determine<\/strong> <em>if<\/em> and <em>where<\/em> UX debt exists.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Compare<\/strong> severity to importance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make time<\/strong> to fix it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Socialize<\/strong> the concept.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Dealing with intentional and unintentional UX debt also require <strong>different techniques<\/strong>. Shortcuts we intentionally make, and good ideas that get lost during the process can be managed by <strong>note taking<\/strong>, <strong>task management<\/strong>, or <strong>issue tracking<\/strong> apps.<\/p>\n<p>Unintentional UX debt can be more or less overcome by regularly running <strong>user tests<\/strong>, asking for <strong>customer feedback<\/strong>, or using advanced techniques like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/ab-test-results-case-studies\/\">A\/B testing<\/a> to see the impact of different designs.<\/p>\n<p>Applying <em>principles of<\/em> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iterative_design\" target=\"_blank\">iterative design<\/a><\/em> can also be useful; we can build our UX debt management steps into every iteration to prevent its accumulation.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/managing-ux-debt\/iterative-design.jpg\" width=\"700\" height=\"370\" alt=\"Iterative Design\"><figcaption class=\"entry-image-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/andr3wjwright\/ias14-uxdebt\/12-IA_Summit_March_30_2014\" target=\"_blank\">IMAGE: Wikipedia \u2013 Iterative and incremental development<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>UX debt management needs to <strong>fit into our broader workflow<\/strong>, with the characteristics of our team, our goals, and the nature of our product, but there are some <strong>universal things<\/strong> that\u2019s recommended to follow in all cases.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>We need to <strong>communicate<\/strong> across our team <em>why<\/em> we need to deal with UX debt, <strong>what are our goals<\/strong>, and <strong>how we want to accomplish<\/strong> them.<\/li>\n<li>We need to find tools to <strong>track intentional UX debt<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>We need to find ways to test our product and get feedback from our users to <strong>catch unintentional UX debt<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>We need to <strong>organize<\/strong> and <strong>prioritize<\/strong> our issues.<\/li>\n<li>We need to <strong>measure<\/strong> the results our work, as we always need to <strong>adjust<\/strong> UX debt management to our changing needs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Final Words<\/h2>\n<p>To create quality products we don\u2019t only need to be innovative, but also to pay attention to things that are not so obvious at first sight, one of these is <strong>recognizing and effectively managing UX debt<\/strong>. It\u2019s probably not the most interesting task but it\u2019s crucial, as over time UX debt can be a serious threat to the success of our work.<\/p>\n<p>If we slice UX debt into <strong>manageable chunks<\/strong>, and <strong>integrate the related tasks into our workflow<\/strong>, we don\u2019t have to do too much at once, we can avoid unpleasant surprises, and maintain or improve the quality of a product in a comfortable way.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>User experience debt inevitably happens over time. It\u2019s the sum of overdue design and usability tasks derived from things like quick business decisions, design shortcuts, missed opportunities, time constraints, and other factors. User experience debt is called a debt as it\u2019s similar to real-life debt; we get something in the present, but only pay for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3395],"tags":[3573],"topic":[4520],"class_list":["entry-content","is-maxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Recognize &amp; Manage UX Debt - Hongkiat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"User experience debt inevitably happens over time. 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It&#039;s the sum of overdue design and usability tasks derived from things like quick business decisions,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/managing-ux-debt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-07T15:30:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/managing-ux-debt\/technical-debt.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna Monus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Monus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anna Monus\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a601053a0ab457901e00cdc83bd5359e\"},\"headline\":\"How to Recognize &#038; Manage UX Debt\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-07T15:30:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1437,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/technical-debt.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"user experience\"],\"articleSection\":[\"UI\\\/UX\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to Recognize & Manage UX Debt - Hongkiat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/managing-ux-debt\\\/technical-debt.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-07T15:30:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"User experience debt inevitably happens over time. 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