For product teams, roadmap discussions often center on a tough question: How do we balance new features with UX and tech improvements?
While everyone agrees that user experience matters, design refinements frequently get deprioritized - labeled as ‘nice-to-haves’ when engineering bandwidth is scarce. The result? Clunky user flows pile up and preventable frustrations erode long-term loyalty.
This guide shares a proven approach to advocate for UX without sidelining business or technical priorities, turning contentious tradeoffs into collaborative wins.
1. Build a Strategic UX Backlog
Start by creating a dedicated backlog of UX improvements. Treat it like a living document, and categorize items by:
- Impact on users (e.g., reduced friction, increased accessibility).
- Design effort (low, medium, high).
- Engineering effort (you will need your engineering teams’ inputs on this, but you can always fill out the rest of the information first)
This backlog will provide you a visual inventory of low hanging fruits (high impact, low effort) that you can tackle. For example, fixing confusing button labels might take minimal engineering time but significantly improve usability.
2. Break Big UX Initiatives into Bite-Sized Wins
Large-scale UX overhauls can intimidate stakeholders. Instead, slice projects into smaller, achievable phases. For instance:
- Tackle accessibility upgrades component-by-component rather than all at once.
This iterative approach builds momentum and demonstrates progress without overwhelming engineering teams.
3. Negotiate Quarterly “UX Time” with Product Managers
Advocate for dedicated time in each quarter (e.g., 10-20% of sprint capacity) to address UX debt. Frame it as a long-term investment in user satisfaction and retention.
For example:“If we allocate 15% of Q4 to address design system debts, we can move much quickly next year on new feature designs.”
Align these efforts with broader product themes like trustworthiness (e.g., cleaning up spacing for polishness) or self-serve capability (e.g., unified tooltip placements).
4. Piggyback UX Improvements on Feature Work
Integrate UX enhancements into upcoming feature work. For example:
- If a new feature requires designing a table, check the backlog for any related table component items. Then discuss with the product and engineering team to determine whether you can incorporate them into the feature design.
This minimizes additional effort while delivering incremental value.
5. Tie UX to Metrics and Business Outcomes
Whenever you can, communicate your rationale on metrics and business outcomes win stakeholder buy-in. Examples:
- Example 1: Our data shows a high drop-off rate during onboarding. Addressing known UX issues could help improve retention.
Link UX debts to KPIs like conversion rates, NPS scores, or support ticket volume.
6. Celebrate Every Win - Big or Small
Visibility is key. Set a cadence to share your work to a broad audience. For example, at the end of each quarter:
- Showcase improvements in company-wide meetings (e.g., “We shipped 15 UX fixes this quarter!”).
- Share any user testimonials or before/after metrics to highlight impact.
- Recognize contributors from design, product, and engineering teams.
Small wins add up. Grouping them together reinforces UX’s cumulative value.
Final Thoughts: UX is a Team Sport
Pushing for UX improvements requires collaboration, not confrontation. By framing UX as a shared goal (not a competing priority), you’ll build allies in product and engineering. Start small, prove value with data, and keep the user at the heart of every decision.
And remember, you can always get outside help to tackle UX improvements. At Koi Studios, we can be your team's fractional product designer, helping you address roadmap items without the full-time hire budget.
Ready to tackle UX debts? Bookmark this guide, share it with your team, and start building your backlog today!
