redusering

Redusering is a concept in software engineering, information technology, and design that describes the systematic reduction of redundancy in a system to improve efficiency, reliability, and user experience. The term is used to describe practices that identify unnecessary steps, duplicated data, and superfluous components and then remove or streamline them. Redusering emphasizes aligning system structure with user goals and real-world usage patterns, rather than simply optimizing for technical metrics alone.

Core principles include minimizing required actions for common tasks, eliminating duplicate or obsolete data, consolidating functions where appropriate, and designing interfaces that make successful outcomes obvious and fast. Redusering also advocates modular design so changes in one part of a system minimize unintended effects elsewhere, and it favors feedback loops that verify improvements from the user's perspective.

Common methods are task analysis and user-flow mapping to locate friction points, data deduplication and normalization to reduce storage and inconsistency, and performance profiling to identify bottlenecks. Designers may apply caching, lazy loading, and interface simplification to speed interactions while preserving essential functionality. In software architectures, redusering can involve refactoring, API consolidation, and the removal of rarely used features.

Redusering is applied in product development, software engineering, data pipelines, and information architecture. It supports faster onboarding, lower maintenance costs, and clearer user journeys by focusing attention on value-adding steps.

Examples include streamlining a multi-page sign-up process to a single-visit form, deduplicating customer records across databases, and consolidating several microservices into a unified interface while preserving behavior.

Critics warn that aggressive redusering can oversimplify user choices, reduce customization, or hide complexity that some users rely on. There is also a risk of de-scoping functionality beyond what is acceptable for certain environments, leading to scope creep or reduced resilience. Proponents argue that careful measurement and user feedback help balance efficiency with flexibility.