design-debt-tracker

Design Debt Tracker

Design debt is every conscious compromise the team makes and every minor issue deferred to "next time." Like technical debt, it compounds. Unlike technical debt, most teams don't track it — so it disappears into the gap between what was shipped and what was intended.

This skill maintains a living register that captures debt as it's created, tracks it across iterations, and surfaces it when decisions are being made.

Why This Exists

The design-critic classifies findings as Critical, Major, Minor, and Note. Critical and Major get fixed. Minor and Note get a shrug and "fix if time allows." They rarely get fixed because no one remembers them.

The accessibility-reviewer does the same — Minor issues with specific fixes that never happen because they're buried in a report that no one reopens.

Every "fix if time allows" is a promise to a persona. This skill makes those promises visible.

When to Use

• After critique — when the design-critic produces Minor or Note findings that won't be fixed this round
• After accessibility review — when the accessibility-reviewer flags Minor issues that are deferred
• After a fix round — when not all issues were addressed and some were consciously deferred
• At project start — to review accumulated debt from previous iterations
• Before planning — to decide which debt items to address in the next cycle
• On user request — "show me the design debt" or "what did we defer?"

The Register

Design debt lives in a ## Design Debt Register section in design-state.md. One register per project. It persists across iterations.

Register Format

## Design Debt Register

_Items: [count] | Critical: [count] | Oldest: [date]_

| ID | Date | Source | Severity | What | Who is affected | Suggested fix | Status | Notes |
|----|------|--------|----------|------|----------------|---------------|--------|-------|
| DD-001 | 2025-01-15 | design-critic | Minor | Settings form shows all fields at once — cognitive load | Persona: Jamie (cognitive disability) | Progressive disclosure with sections | Open | Deferred from v1 — setup is one-time flow |
| DD-002 | 2025-01-15 | accessibility-reviewer | Minor | Category colour strips lack icon backup | Users with colour vision deficiency | Add icon per category alongside colour | Open | |
| DD-003 | 2025-01-16 | design-critic | Note | Empty state illustration is placeholder | All users | Commission illustration that matches brand | Open | Low priority — functional without it |
| DD-004 | 2025-01-15 | accessibility-reviewer | Minor | Toast notifications auto-dismiss before screen reader finishes | Screen reader users | Extend timeout to 8s or add persistent log | Resolved | Fixed in v1.1 |