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The Gap Between UX Literacy and UX Practices in Agile-UX Settings: A Case Study

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Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2023 (INTERACT 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14143))

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Abstract

Integration of agile and user experience (UX) remains a challenge despite being a major research interest for both agile software development (ASD) and UX stakeholders. Typically, ASD stakeholders’ primary focus is delivering working software, whereas UX stakeholders focus on designing systems that meet user needs. These differences lead to friction between developers and designers. In this paper, we focus on ASD stakeholders working in an agile-UX setting and explore the gap between their UX literacy and UX practices. We adopted a case study approach involving ASD stakeholders from two organisations working in agile-UX settings. We studied both organisations for over a year, starting at the end of 2021. Specifically, we compared data about their UX literacy collected by questionnaire and semi-structured interview, to data about their UX practices collected by observation. We administered the questionnaire and conducted the semi-structured interviews twice, in rounds six months apart. We used participant observation in projects with which we were involved as UX researchers and designers. Our findings show that ASD stakeholders’ UX practices do not match their yet acceptable level of UX literacy. For example, ASD stakeholders still engage in premature development activities, although they understand the problems associated with late design changes. We encourage UX practitioners and researchers to conduct UX maturity assessments and address identified disparities, as we believe this will reduce the friction between different stakeholder groups and facilitate the integration of ASD and UX.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support from the Institute for Language and Communication (ILC) and AISIN Europe. The authors thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Daniela Azevedo, Luka Rukonić & Suzanne Kieffer

  2. AISIN Europe, Braine-l’Alleud, Belgium

    Luka Rukonić

Authors
  1. Daniela Azevedo
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  2. Luka Rukonić
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  3. Suzanne Kieffer
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Correspondence to Daniela Azevedo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of West London, London, UK

    José Abdelnour Nocera

  2. Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Marta Kristín Lárusdóttir

  3. University of York, York, UK

    Helen Petrie

  4. University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

    Antonio Piccinno

  5. Université Côte d’Azur, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

    Marco Winckler

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Azevedo, D., Rukonić, L., Kieffer, S. (2023). The Gap Between UX Literacy and UX Practices in Agile-UX Settings: A Case Study. In: Abdelnour Nocera, J., Kristín Lárusdóttir, M., Petrie, H., Piccinno, A., Winckler, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2023. INTERACT 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14143. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42283-6_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42283-6_24

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