ux debt: the cost of taking short cuts

UX Debt: The Cost of Taking Short Cuts

Hira JavedMay 13, 2015

About Me

Usability Specialist

@hirajaved10

http://lnkd.in/HGSpHW

UX Instructor

What we’ll talk about:

• Defining ‘UX Debt’• How it’s incurred• How it’s measured• Identifying UX maturity of an organization

How do you experience something?

“User experience represents the perception left in someone’s mind following a series of interactions

between people, devices, and events – or any combination thereof.”

- Eric Reiss

UX = the sum of a series of interactions

Types of Interactions

• Active (in our control)• Passive (out of our control)• Secondary (things that have indirect influence)

Source: Eric Reiss http://bit.ly/1nY60XZ

http://bit.ly/1nY60XZ


Designing a User Experience

• Coordinating interactions that are controllable.• Acknowledging interactions that are beyond our

control. • Reducing negative interactions.

Source: Eric Reiss http://bit.ly/1nY60XZ



“All interactions are open to subjective interpretation.”

- Eric Reiss

How do you define debt?

Technical Debt

“Those internal things that you choose not to do now, but which will impede future development if left undone in software projects.” - Ward Cunningham

How do you know your technical debt is compounding?

Defining UX Debt

Defining UX Debt

• Joshua Kerievsky extended that metaphor to UX design.

• Increased cost of maintaining the user experience due to short cuts taking throughout the product’s lifecycle.

Defining UX Debt

• It’s less invisible to internal stakeholders than technical debt.

• UX debt is more user facing in nature and can be dangerously easy to both overlook and underestimate.

• This makes it harder to realize you’re accumulating it, let alone paying it off.

Source: Vijay Sundaram http://bit.ly/1GcgD25

http://bit.ly/1GcgD25

http://bit.ly/1GcgD25

Defining UX Debt

Incurring UX Debt

Incurring UX Debt

• Intentional • Unintentional

Incurring UX Debt

Intentional:• Deliberate corner-cutting due to project

constraints (budget, time, resources).

• “Don’t fix what’s not broken” mindset

• Design ideas which could simplify user interactions are considered too complex to implement within a specific time-frame, and as a result are sacrificed.

When product decisions compromise the user

experience, the result is UX debt.

Incurring UX Debt

Unintentional:• Less obvious since it results from lack of

information or misconceptions and assumptions about the end users.

• If time and resources are invested without validating assumptions or legitimate insights, the mounting UX debt could result in product failure.

What are the signals that you’re accumulating UX debt?

Measuring UX Debt

Measuring UX Debt

This is a challenging task if:• an organization has a large product ecosystem• lack of baseline UX metrics• Inconsistency in branding• No formal implementation of design standards

Measuring UX Debt

Two key pieces of information are needed:

1) What is the baseline measurement of each product’s UX?

2) What is the desired level of experience that the organization aspires to create.

Measuring UX Debt

Once a consensus has been reached on the right UX metric for the product, and what the optimal experience looks like, some sort of scoring mechanism needs to be developed.

Severity of Current UX IssuesCritical: “If we don’t fix this, users will not be able to complete the task.”

Major: “Many users will be frustrated if we don’t fix this. They may give up!”

Minor: “Users are annoyed but this does not keep from completing the task”

Measuring UX Debt

• The quality of experience can be measured across different factors such as: user engagement, adoption, retention, satisfaction etc.

• The greater the gap between current and desired experience across any factor, the higher the debt score.

Measuring UX DebtDescription of UX Issue Severity Debt Score

Unusable: Imperative to fix Unusable 4

Major Issue: Important to fix with high priority

Critical 3

Minor Issue: Should be given low priority Moderate 2

Cosmetic change Minor 1

Meets criteria No Issues 0

Source: Kimberly Dunwoody and Susan Teague Reactor http://bit.ly/1NzVONm

http://bit.ly/1NzVONm

http://bit.ly/1NzVONm

Measuring UX Debt

The level of severity of a UX issue can be calculated by the data collected from expert evaluations of the product, or by using prior usability testing as a baseline.

Organizational UX Maturity

UX Maturity Model

Developed by Macadamian Technologies

Source: Macadamian Technologies http://bit.ly/1F7ZpQZ

Stage 1: Unenlightened

Stage 2: Awakening

Stage 3: Enlightened

Stage 4: Super Human

Stage 5: Celestial

http://bit.ly/1F7ZpQZ

UX Maturity Model

Stage 1: Unenlightened• Organization sees UX design simply as visual

design, “layered” on top of the product’s functionality.

• It’s addressed at or near the end of coding.

• No professional UX professionals in the house - either employees or consultants.



UX Maturity Model


Implications:• High risk of displacement if competitors are able

to provide the same value and a better UX.

Indicators:• No discussion of UX or only in terms of graphics• End users are not consulted• No UX goals tied to business goals




UX Maturity Model


What’s required to move forward:• Ensure that relevant business issues are correctly

identified as being UX design related.

• UX education needs to happen.




UX Maturity Model

Stage 2: Awakening• Organization genuinely considering to improving

UX, but still has no formal structure.

• UX may be misunderstood and any changes may be implemented in bits and pieces.

• No UX professionals within in the organization, but an outside expert may be consulted.




UX Maturity Model

Stage 2: Awakening

Implications:• Experience does not play a major role in

differentiating the product from competitors.

• Organizations must decide level of investment in UX processes and practices to stay competitive.




UX Maturity Model

Stage 2: Awakening

Indicators:• UX design is a hot topic, at least for some

projects.• Design decisions are made based on some newly

acquired UX knowledge.• Limited user feedback (opinions on design or

functionality).• General or hard to measure UX goals.




UX Maturity Model

Stage 2: Awakening

What’s required to move forward:• Launch a pilot project, overseen by experts, with

a clear connection between UX design goals and a business objective.




UX Maturity Model


• Organization is doing UX right or at least significantly better on some projects.

• Leadership team understands the value of design and investments are being made in professional hires or contracts.




UX Maturity Model


Implications:• Products can be distinguished from competitors’

based on UX design.

• Success is still inconsistent across the product portfolio and users may not associate the company with excellence in UX design.




UX Maturity Model


Indicators:• Evidence that UX design has clearly had a

positive business impact. • UX goals are clear and measurable.• Users involved but not always in the right way or

in time to inform design decisions.• No senior leadership in UX. No standards.• Executives are noticing and have opinions.




UX Maturity Model


What’s required to move forward:• Clear UX goals for teams on projects and

providing accountability and empowerment to UX experts.

• Roles need to be defined so everyone on a project feels they can contribute to the UX outcomes in some way.




UX Maturity Model


What’s required to move forward:• UX experts willing to take initiative, collaborate

and integrate with other functions.

• Senior leadership and expertise is required to help align and coordinate UX resources and other functions.




UX Maturity Model

Stage 4: Super Human• Organization has moved beyond the basic “why

and hows” of UX design in their products.

• They are more concerned with the nuances of particulars of improvement in UX.

• UX goals are clearly embedded with the organization's mindset and people understand their roles in the process.




UX Maturity Model


Implications:• The company has a reputation for UX excellence

in their products and often wins on this basis.

Indicators:• UX is no longer a hot topic. Discussion is more

likely to be about the latest techniques, process improvements, etc.




UX Maturity Model


Indicators:• A strong set of practices, processes and

guidelines exist that are actually utilized by project teams.

• Users are regularly consulted for projects. And it’s done consistently with correct techniques.




UX Maturity Model


What’s required to move forward:• The next step beyond excellence is when the

organization realizes that the product experience is just one part of a larger experience delivered to customers.




UX Maturity Model

Stage 5: Celestial• Strategic implementation of UX design principles.

• UX design is firmly integrated into all aspects of customer experience. This includes all the touch points that happen around the product.




UX Maturity ModelStage 5: Celestial

Implications:• The company has a reputation for excellence in

all aspects of customer experience.

Indicators:• UX goals are linked to business objectives with

total customer experience in mind.• Research in UX is strongly coordinated with

other customer experience feedback processes.Source: Macadamian Technologies http://bit.ly/1F7ZpQZ



Key Take-ways

Characteristics of organizations that do UX well and are conscious of their UX debt:

• The leadership and culture in the company appreciates the value and necessity of UX design from a business point of view.

• Access to UX expertise (in-house or out-source)• They use appropriate technique to obtain and

understand user input.

Key Take-ways

• There are connected and integrated processes that enable individuals to work together to create the user experience of the product.

• The principles of UX design are applied to the product ecosystem to drive consistent customer experience.

Questions ?