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I am the only designer in a tech company and I wonder if there is a way to determine the level of ux that goes into a feature?
I've had the engineering push back on most "extra" features, that were expected by users (from user tests), basically because they want to get the minimum out and only do those if they have time.
Is there a metric or formula to balance this?
Take a look at Google's HEART framework: http://www.dtelepathy.com/ux-metrics/#intro.
The usefulness of UX can also be heightened by what approach the project has. A Test Driven Development (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development) may not always validate your UX stories, where Behaviour Driven Development (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-driven_development) compares what has been developed against what the user/customer actually needs.
Contention between designers and developers has been around for a long time, and in my experience, designers need to adapt to developers if there's going to be any mutual respect. By adapting, I mean you need to start measuring your 'extra' features in terms of business value and behaviour driven development.
It sounds like UX isn't valued in your organisation, at least by the people who make the decisions. This existing post has some good examples and approaches on how to change that.
