December is when design debt becomes easier to see. The launches are behind us, and the small exceptions that seemed harmless begin to form patterns.

I try to read design debt as evidence. Repeated overrides might mean the component is too rigid. Inconsistent flows might mean teams are solving the same problem without a shared pattern.

The useful question is not who made the mess. It is what the mess is trying to tell us about the system.

A year-end audit can be quiet, practical work. It gives the next cycle a cleaner starting point and a better sense of where the product is strained.