Social Practices of Creating and Using UX Artifacts in Agile Organizations

Abstract

This study conceptualizes UX activities as social practices emerging from how agile software development (ASD) team members create and use UX artifacts in a real-world software development setting. We sought to understand what social practices emerge when integrating UX and ASD activities in an organization. To this end, we observed the use of three UX artifacts: affinity diagrams, personas, and prototypes. Our findings showed that two social practices were established: the creation and use of UX artifacts. We provided insights into how ASD stakeholders possessing different competencies attach meanings to materials (i.e., UX artifacts) and thus form social practices. Also, we found that the two social practices share the same materials, while the stakeholders construct meanings associated with materials depending on their job role.