You probably just took on some UX debt
#58: How limitations and compromise-driven decisions contribute to UX debt.
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You probably just took on some UX debt
You’ve most likely come across the term technical debt at some point in your career. It usually arises when temporary solutions are implemented and shortcuts are taken. Technical debt means that even though we deliver a solution faster and cheaper now, in the long run, it becomes more expensive for the organization. That’s because the code delivered by developers eventually needs to be refactored. It has to be improved, optimized, or in many cases rewritten entirely from scratch.
Even though the term technical debt is widely used and many people have heard of it, I feel like UX debt is something we don’t talk about much, even though it’s not much less common. As designers, we work with many constraints. Deadlines are tight, and budgets are limited. Because of those constraints, we make all sorts of decisions every day which, not always but to varying degrees, can contribute to UX debt. As a designer, you should understand what it is, how it emerges, and what kind of impact it has on the business and the organization.
Let’s take a closer look.
What is UX debt?
UX debt refers to the accumulated neglect, compromises, and imperfections that negatively affect the user experience. These issues may arise either consciously or unconsciously during the design process. Just like technical debt, UX debt will eventually need to be "repaid" in order to improve the experience, which comes with additional costs such as time and team resources.
Where does it come from?
There are many different factors that can lead to the creation of UX debt. They can appear in isolation or combine over time, causing the debt to grow.
The most obvious contributors are tight deadlines and/or a lack of sufficient resources. These constraints often prevent teams from delivering the right solution the first time, forcing them to make compromises along the way.
Another common cause is the absence of user research and a lack of understanding of users’ needs and problems. This often goes hand in hand with ignoring or completely skipping user feedback. Usability testing is frequently overlooked as well. Simply put, not caring enough about users is one of the easiest ways to accumulate UX debt.
A further contributor is the lack of understanding of the UX designer's role within the organization, along with the low priority placed on their work. Designers are often not given enough time or resources to conduct research, fix known pain points, or test solutions before release (tasks that may also involve QA teams). When the designer’s role is poorly understood, there is often no expectation that they will take on these responsibilities. Instead, the only deliverable expected from them is a set of screens in Figma. In some cases, designers are not included in the product development team at all, which significantly increases the likelihood of accumulating debt.
Design work itself can also contribute to UX debt. This usually happens when designers ignore established standards and proven design patterns, or when there is a lack of consistency and no clear design system in place. Even if a design system exists, it might be neglected. On top of that, poor or missing design documentation can further complicate development and quality assurance efforts.
Finally, a lack of communication between teams and the absence of a shared product vision can lead to even more debt. When teams do not collaborate, align on goals, or communicate effectively, inconsistencies and gaps begin to form. UX debt is not created by designers alone. It is the result of how the entire product team works together. If collaboration breaks down, the debt will likely grow regardless of the designers’ intentions.
Conscious vs. unconscious debt
As I mentioned earlier, UX debt can arise either consciously or unconsciously during the design process.
Conscious debt occurs when the team is aware that the decisions they make lead to UX debt and accepts the consequences. It is usually the result of constraints beyond our control, such as tight deadlines or insufficient resources to design a better solution at a given moment. This kind of debt is not always bad, as long as its “repayment” is properly planned.
Unconscious debt appears when we are not aware that the quality of the user experience is deteriorating. It often stems from not using proven patterns, ignoring product feedback, skipping user research, or delivering solutions without understanding the real needs of users.
What are the effects of ux debt?
UX debt has negative consequences for both users and the business or organization. Let’s take a closer look at how it affects each of these areas.
Poor user experience and loss of value
Accumulating and neglecting UX debt leads, quite simply, to a worsening user experience. As a result of the decisions (or lack of them) mentioned earlier, the product gradually becomes less appealing to users. Increasing inconsistency, navigation issues, unclear messages, missing features, unnecessary additions, and a more complex interface all contribute to a growing frustration. Eventually, users stop seeing value in the product, and using it becomes so difficult that they feel discouraged and start looking for simpler alternatives.
One important factor worth highlighting is the rushed release of new features, e.g, under time pressure. These additions are frequently inconsistent with the rest of the system and misaligned with user expectations. This contributes to UX debt and frustrates existing users who are repeatedly forced to learn how to use new parts of the product from scratch.
This also affects new users. UX debt makes learning and onboarding harder. The product may feel confusing and difficult to use, which leads to abandonment. This is particularly critical in contexts like e-commerce, where UX debt can increase bounce rates during registration, product search, or checkout, resulting in more abandoned shopping carts.
Impact on the business and product teams
On the organizational side, UX debt has a direct effect. Even when a team is aware of the debt and has consciously taken it on, the time for repayment eventually comes. In most cases, repaying UX debt comes with high interest. Temporary solutions will, sooner or later, need to be replaced with proper ones, and refactoring usually costs significantly more time and resources than implementing the right solution from the start. The larger the UX debt, the harder it becomes to develop the product further. Existing problems either make it difficult to introduce new features or completely block them, as fixing foundational issues becomes the top priority.
The negative effects on users directly translate to business impact. When users struggle with the product, customer support and service costs go up. If they abandon the product or fail to engage with it at all, this leads to a decline in key business metrics.
It also affects product teams, who are forced to deliver and maintain solutions that are flawed from both a design and implementation perspective. These solutions are often more difficult to maintain, and teams end up spending time fixing problems and addressing UX debt instead of working on new, valuable features. Over time, this can lower engagement and reduce the quality of work, as teams become increasingly demotivated.
Can it be avoided?
In a perfect world, yes, it would be possible to develop products without UX debt. Unfortunately, we do not build products in a perfect world, and avoiding UX debt is simply not possible. This is because we cannot avoid the situations that lead to it. There will almost always be constraints such as time, resources, or budget that influence our decisions and result in the creation of debt. In addition, user needs are constantly evolving, and it is rare that we are able to keep up with them at the right pace.
It is important, however, to approach UX debt as consciously as possible and know how to manage it effectively.
How to manage and minimize it
Since UX debt cannot be avoided, it is important to know how to manage it in order to minimize its negative impact. Because of the consequences it brings, addressing it as early as possible is essential and should not be postponed.
To manage UX debt effectively, we first need to understand its scope. This means monitoring and documenting how the debt is created. We need to know where the debt exists and why it was introduced. If past decisions were not documented, an audit may be necessary to assess the current state of the debt. In cases where the debt was taken on intentionally, for example, to deliver a new feature quickly, it is important for the team to plan when and how the debt will be repaid. A good practice is maintaining a separate backlog for UX debt-related tasks.
Regular user research helps minimize the creation of UX debt by allowing teams to better understand evolving needs. Usability testing also plays a key role in reducing the risk of releasing solutions that are unclear or not valuable to users.
It is also crucial for the UX designer to be involved as early as possible in the project, for example, through the product trio approach. This helps reduce the number of poor decisions that could increase the debt. In many organizations with low UX maturity, this is still a major issue that negatively affects user experience and contributes to growing debt.
It is worth planning regular debt repayment, for instance, by including related tasks in everyday work. These do not have to be large efforts that consume most of the team's time. When resources are limited, repaying UX debt can start with small, incremental steps. Tasks should also be properly prioritized, since not everything that needs improvement will have the same level of importance.
During day-to-day work, having a design system and using proven design patterns can be very helpful. It saves time and reduces the number of decisions that need to be made, which helps prevent new debt from forming.