You may not have heard the term sludge used in a development or product management context but, as a user, you know what it is! It’s the barriers and obstacles that keep you from your goal, for example, a pop-up advertising a newsletter that requires a response before you can view a web page. Sludge slows us down, wastes time and effort, erodes trust and makes it harder for us to get what we need.
It’s obvious why public services should remove as much friction from their processes as possible, but before we go hacking and slashing, it’s also important to remember that not all friction is sludge. Some friction can be necessary or even protective.
For example:
- Multi-factor or biometric authentication required to log into a secure service.
- A cooling off period following a large purchase.
- A pop-up or checkbox that makes us pause and reflect on a decision before committing to it.
In public services, some common types of friction include administrative requirements (form filling) and waiting time (in a queue), and although some elements may be necessary, some may be excessive or unjustified.
How do you know if you have sludge?
If you think your app or process might introduce sludge to your users, our neighbours in New South Wales can help! The NSW Department of Customer Service designed a sludge audit method to help you identify, quantify and eliminate sludge. Check out their sludge toolkit page to get started.
If you’re a public servant and you’re interested in how a sludge audit works in practice, check out this presentation from the team who created it! You’ll need to be an APS Professions member to access the page so if your work email ends in .gov.au you can join! Visit community.apsprofessions.gov.au and click the ‘Sign up’ button.