Moving between apps, devices and digital workflows has become a routine part of how people work and interact online. But each transition can require users to reorient themselves, repeat tasks or make another small decision, creating cognitive strain that can build into frustration and fatigue over time.
As digital environments become more complex, reducing friction isn’t simply a matter of convenience; it can also affect users’ focus, productivity and willingness to keep engaging with a product or platform. Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share design choices that can make digital experiences feel easier and less taxing for users.
Adapting Technology To Familiar User Behaviors
When introducing new technology, we shouldn’t underestimate the productivity cost of changing how users already work. Even better processes can create friction when users must relearn familiar tasks. Ultimately, technology should adapt to the user rather than continually asking the user to adapt to the technology. The best improvements are often the ones users barely notice—other than finding their work easier, faster and less frustrating. – Kevin Greenway, 10ZiG Technology
Reducing Clicks Between Critical Tasks
One meaningful design choice is reducing unnecessary clicks between critical tasks. In healthcare, every extra step can add cognitive load for clinicians, staff or patients. A well-designed workflow should surface the right information at the right moment, preserve context across screens, and make the next action clear. Less friction supports safer decisions, better focus and a more human experience. – Will Conaway, Tuxedo Cat Consulting
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Surfacing The Next Action At The Right Moment
Design around the user’s intent, not the technology. People shouldn’t have to understand which application, system or workflow comes next. Surface the next logical action at the point of need. Reducing cognitive load—not simply clicks—creates a more seamless and productive digital experience. – Jayasri Ranganathan, Trinity Solar Inc.
Bringing Products Into Users’ Preferred Tools
Meet users where they already are. If they live in Slack, build a Slack bot. If they live in email, send an email digest. If they work in ChatGPT or Claude, build an MCP server. If they work from their calendar, integrate into their calendar. Every context switch creates friction. Don’t make users come to your product when your product can come to them. – Pavlo Razumovskyi, Coframe Inc.
Preserving Progress Across Apps And Devices
A powerful design choice is making every transition feel invisible. Users should be able to move from phone to laptop, app to browser or one workflow to another without losing progress, preferences or context. When technology remembers where people left off and removes repetitive steps, it feels less like managing tools and more like continuing a single, effortless journey. – Bindu Madhavi Mangalampalli, Cotiviti
Unifying Apps Through A Single Interface
We may be entering the era of the harness: one place where applications and workflows expose their logic, context and actions through standards like MCP. Instead of forcing users to constantly move between applications, we bring the applications to the user. The best way to reduce digital fatigue may simply be to reduce how many interfaces people need to navigate. – Neda Nia, Stibo Systems
Centralizing Access To Multiple Systems
An access hub is key. People need simple navigation between systems. We shouldn’t overthink technical details; we should focus on ergonomics and user experience instead. A dedicated intranet page linking to various systems that users can bookmark is a simple idea with a high-impact result. – Nino Letteriello, FIT Group
Delivering Answers Without Leaving The Workflow
It is simple: Reduce how many places people have to go to get an answer. If someone can ask a question inside the workflow they already use and get the context they need, there is less reason to make them hunt across dashboards, tabs and tools. AI makes that kind of intent-driven interface increasingly practical. – Karthik Sj, LogicMonitor
Making Actions Reversible
Make actions reversible by default. Users burn energy on confirmation dialogs and hesitation because every app treats mistakes differently. A reliable undo window lets people act, recover and keep moving. Good design reduces fatigue not by removing choices but by lowering the cost of being wrong. – Akhilesh Sharma, A3Logics Inc.
Batching Notifications To Protect Focus
Design for silence by default. Everyone is fixing the switch between apps, but the deeper drain is the pull of them—every tool assuming it earned a real-time ping. A person yanked out of focus 40 times a day is tired before any login. Kill default alerts, batch the rest into a few daily windows and let people pull what they need, not get pushed. Protect attention, and the fatigue lifts. – Ganesh Ariyur, Transform Smarter
Keeping Critical Actions In One Workflow
In my experience, one of the most effective design choices is reducing unnecessary context switching. When we design enterprise platforms, I try to keep approvals, notifications, documents and key actions within the same workflow instead of forcing users to jump between systems. A consistent interface with fewer clicks and preserved context may seem simple, but it significantly reduces cognitive load, errors and user fatigue. – Shahen Minasyan, Twin Peaks Inc. (TPI)
Designing Systems Around Real-World Workflows
Design one system of action instead of a patchwork of tools that claim to talk to each other. It helps to design for the moment of use, too, since one role will need a different user experience than another. Friction disappears when the platform reflects how the work actually happens. – Matthew Polega, Mark43
Standardizing Language Across Products
Use the same words for the same things across a workflow. If one system says “customer,” another “account” and a third “party,” users must translate while they work. The same occurs when “submit,” “send” and “save” have different consequences. Set a cross-product language standard and test it through real tasks. Consistent vocabulary removes friction before another integration is built. – Mani Padisetti, Almost Magic Tech Lab
Using Passive Authentication To Reduce Security Fatigue
A key design choice should be context-aware, passive authentication that verifies device posture and behavioral signals continuously instead of firing repeated password or MFA prompts. It matters because friction isn’t just annoying; it trains users to click through security warnings mindlessly. Cutting unnecessary prompts while keeping trust continuous across devices actually strengthens security, since fatigued users are the weakest link, not the strongest. – Kumar Ritesh, CYFIRMA
Giving Workflows A Clear Finish Line
Design an explicit finish line. Many workflows save progress but never tell users when they can safely stop, leaving open loops that follow them into the next app. End each session with a compact closure card: what was completed, what remains, who owns the next move and when attention is needed again. Then suppress the task until that trigger. Fatigue falls when software gives the mind permission to release work, not merely a place to resume it. Closure is now a design feature. – Jagadish Gokavarapu, Wissen Infotech
Refusing To Guess When Answers Aren’t Reliable
The most meaningful friction reducer is a system that refuses rather than guesses. Fatigue is not just clicks; it is the low hum of not trusting what you are looking at. When a platform fails closed and shows nothing rather than a confident wrong answer, people stop double-checking, and that reclaimed trust removes more fatigue than any UI polish. – Murali Rajendran, PracticeVantage Consulting
Adapting Experiences To Each Device Context
Design for context, not just continuity. People use devices differently: a laptop at work, a phone on the go, and a TV or tablet at home. The experience should carry context across devices but also change what information is shown and how it is displayed based on the moment. The goal is not the same experience everywhere. It is the right experience everywhere. – Venky Ramesh, LatentView Analytics
Collecting Less Data And Simplifying Privacy Choices
One meaningful design choice is collecting less data by default. Personalization requires some data, but every extra permission or unexplained request adds mental friction. Users may love an interface and still feel uneasy about what happens behind it. Good UX should reduce that anxiety too: Ask only for what is necessary, explain why and make privacy choices easy to understand. – Artem Lalaiants, RiskSeal, Inc.
Using Voice Agents To Reduce Screen Time
The best interface may be the one you don’t have to look at. Context-aware voice agents can turn intent into action across apps and devices without making users navigate menus or repeat themselves. Design for conversations that remember task progress, allow easy corrections and confirm consequential actions. This results in less screen time, less cognitive load and more user control. – Vinod Bijlani, HPE
