Running head: DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN Designing User Experience Design: Determining the Role of UX in Software Organizations Seth Y. Christensen A thesis submitted to the faculty of Radford University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in the Department of Design Thinking. July 2018 2018, Seth Y. Christensen DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN Abstract There are many academic and practitioner definitions of user experience (UX), but there is not presently a universally accepted definition of UX either theoretically or practically. The purpose of this study was to help software teams define and develop UX within their own organizations. Affinity clusters were used to analyze 41 UX job postings from 36 Utah-based software companies in order to develop an understanding of what was expected of UX employees, based on the skills, roles, and responsibilities that were listed in job postings. Thirty-nine UX professionals participated in bull’s-eye-diagramming and buy-a-feature activities, which were utilized to compare and contrast the current and ideal practice of UX. The study culminated with the creation of a design-thinking workshop that might help UX managers, designers, and researchers apply design-thinking methods to effect positive changes in UX design practices and processes in their organization. Two UX designers and two UX managers participated in trial runs of the workshop. Throughout the collection and analysis of data, several patterns and themes emerged. UX teams considered research to be a very important part of UX design, yet results showed that the amount of time actually spent on research was far less than ideal. Collaboration and communication were among the most important skills and responsibilities. UX managers, designers, and researchers shared similar views regarding the primary responsibilities of UX; however, they held different views regarding the amount of time that should be allocated to various UX responsibilities. Keywords: user experience, design, design thinking, software Seth Y. Christensen, M.F.A. Department of Design Thinking, 2018 Radford University ii DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi Definition of Terms......................................................................................................................... 4 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 5 Academic Definitions ............................................................................................. 5 Practitioner Definitions ........................................................................................... 9 Business Definitions ............................................................................................. 12 All Definitions ...................................................................................................... 13 Why Define UX at an Organizational Level? ....................................................... 15 Methods......................................................................................................................................... 18 Affinity Cluster: Analysis of Job Postings............................................................ 21 Virtual Design Thinking: Current & Ideal UX Practice ....................................... 26 Design-Thinking Workshop: Evaluating Opportunities & Effecting Change ...... 29 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 32 Affinity Cluster: Analysis of Job Postings............................................................ 32 Virtual Design Thinking: Current & Ideal UX Practice ....................................... 41 Design-Thinking Workshop: Evaluating Opportunities & Effecting Change ...... 51 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 55 General Themes .................................................................................................... 55 Contributions to Current Knowledge .................................................................... 61 Implications for Practice ....................................................................................... 64 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 66 Recommendations for Future Research ................................................................ 67 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 68 References ..................................................................................................................................... 69 Appendices Appendix A UX Designer Tenure ........................................................................ 75 iii DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN Appendix B Open Coding Start List ..................................................................... 78 Appendix C Bull’s-Eye Diagram .......................................................................... 80 Appendix D Qualtrics Survey ............................................................................... 81 Appendix E What’s on Your Radar Diagram ..................................................... 105 Appendix F Thematic Code Matrix .................................................................... 106 Appendix G Managers’ Opinion of UX Responsibilities ................................... 108 Appendix H Designers’ and Researchers’ Opinions of UX Responsibilities ..... 110 Appendix I Managers’ and Team Members’ Opinions of UX Soft Skills ......... 112 Appendix J Participants’ Explanation of Primary UX Responsibilities & Skills 114 Appendix K Participants’ Explanation of Primary Soft Skills ........................... 122 Appendix L Workshop: What’s on Your Radar ................................................. 129 Appendix M Workshop: Experience Diagrams .................................................. 132 iv DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN List of Figures Figure 1. The disciplines of UX design. ......................................................................................... 8 Figure 2. Designer vs. company views of UX.............................................................................. 11 Figure 3. What employers look for in UX designers .................................................................... 14 Figure 4. The sequence of design-thinking methods used in this study. ...................................... 20 Figure 5. Ranking of most frequently posted skills and responsibilities for UX designer jobs ......... 35 Figure 6. Ranking of most frequently posted skills and responsibilities for UX researcher jobs. 38 Figure 7. Top five primary UX responsibilities selected by 11 UX managers ............................ 44 Figure 8. Top five primary UX responsibilities selected by 28 UX designers and researchers ... 45 v DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN List of Tables Table 1. Skills listed most frequently among all job postings. ..................................................... 40 Table 2. Comparison of Current and Ideal Time Spent on UX Responsibilities Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 3. Top Ten Discrepancies Between Manager and Designer/Researcher Views of UX ...... 50 vi DESIGNING USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN Designing User Experience Design: Determining the Role of UX in Software Organizations The demand for user experience (UX) design in the software industry has exploded over the past decade. In 2014, IBM announced that it would invest more than $100 million to expand its UX consultation practice throughout the world (Wilson, 2014). Though it is unclear what prompted such an abrupt and substantial investment, it is possible that IBM saw reports of success from other key players in the software industry. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos invested 100 times more into customer experience than advertising during the first year of business. Airbnb’s Mike Gebbia attributes the company’s rapid growth to $10 billion to its commitment to UX. Intuit’s co-founder, Tom Proulx, is an advocate of creating products that are easy to use; to this end, he is also a pioneer of usability testing (Kucheriavy, 2015). Some tout that UX design is a new type of business strategy (Hekkert, Mostert, & Stompff, 2003; Kilgore, 2016). However, the concept of design as a business strategy is far from new given that the second president of IBM coined the phrase “good design is good business” in 1973 (“IBM100 - Good Design,” 2012). Investments in UX design have undoubtedly been good for some businesses. Kucheriavy (2015) said “companies that invest in UX see a lower cost of customer acquisition, lower support cost,