UX Work in Software Start-Ups: Challenges from the Current State of Practice

Eduardo M. Guerra,Sofia A. M. Silveira,Joelma Choma,Roberto Pereira,Luciana A. M. Zaina

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-78098-2_2

Abstract

AbstractSoftware start-ups develop innovative software products working with disruptive technologies in time pressure and market-driven environment. Recently, User eXperience (UX) has become a hot topic that interests software teams of start-ups. However, software and UX professionals have struggled to match UX practices into the development activities, partially because of the lack of resources in the start-ups. This paper investigates how software start-ups handle UX activities during software development and how relevant UX is to these companies’ professionals. To achieve our aim, we surveyed 88 professionals who take part in software teams in star-ups, analyzing the responses using descriptive and statistical methods. Our results reveal that regardless of having or not a UX position in the start-up, UX practices are spread in different software development phases and not fitting into them. Results also show although professionals consider UX relevant and recognize important skills to perform UX activities, some obstacles hinder the effective use of UX in software start-ups. From the survey results, we identified a set of challenges to be overcome in consolidating the UX work in software start-ups. By diagnosing the UX state-of-practice in start-up scenarios and identifying such challenges, our work contributes to provides relevant insights to further academic and practical studies in this field.

Highlights

Software start-ups focus on developing innovative products or services, often disruptive and in challenging contexts [20]
Of the 78 respondents who answered these questions, we found that 33 respondents were from start-ups that have a fully or partially dedicated user experience (UX) team (UX-Team), 25 respondents were from start-ups that have at least one fully or partially dedicated UX professional (UX-Pro), 12 respondents from start-ups that do not have a UX professional (No-UX ), and 8 respondents from start-ups that train employees from other areas to do UX work (Train-E )
This paper presented an investigation on the UX state-of-practice in software start-ups from a survey conducted with 88 professionals who work in software start-ups in Brazil

Summary

Introduction

Software start-ups focus on developing innovative products or services, often disruptive and in challenging contexts [20]. A start-up is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty [21]. To be a start-up, it is not require the company to be small or new. Start-ups differ from established companies by searching for a scalable, repeatable, and profitable business model with the aim of growing in the market [22]. The continuous seeking for a scalable business model pushes the start-ups to have changes in their process and operations constantly. Start-ups usually work with a small team of professionals, exploring new technologies, being marked by rapid evolution, high uncertainty about customers and market conditions, and high failure rate [1,20]. The literature has emphasized the need for studies on Software Engineering practices that are specific and appropriate to the characteristics of start-ups [20,22]

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Conclusion