Design work is easier to fund when it is described in the language the budget is written in. That does not mean inventing numbers; it means measuring the handful of things good experience actually moves, and being honest about the ones it does not.
Key takeaways
- 01Tie the work to a metric someone already reports on.
- 02Support volume is the most underrated design measure.
- 03Small friction compounds; so does removing it.
- 04Measure before, or the result is an anecdote.
Pick a number that already exists
The strongest case for design work uses a metric the business was tracking before the project began: conversion on one flow, tickets in one category, time to complete one task. Introducing a new measure alongside the work invites the argument that the measure was chosen to flatter it.
- Baseline the number before anything ships.
- Change one flow at a time where you can.
- Report the result even when it is flat.
If you cannot name the number before you start, you are not measuring — you are hoping.
Support tickets are a design document
Every recurring ticket describes a place where the interface failed to explain itself. Read a month of them and the roadmap writes itself, in priority order, with volume attached to each item. It is the cheapest research available and almost nobody reads it.
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Frequently asked
The questions this piece tends to raise.