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

Abstract

Software 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.

What do software startups need from UX work?

“…A number of studies mention UX as an important factor of product quality or else discuss questions about UX work in startups (Klotins et al 2019b ; Paternoster et al 2014 ; Giardino et al 2016 ; Unterkalmsteiner et al 2016 ); other studies are focused on UX work topics and consider the particularities of startups in the discussion (Hokkanen and Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila 2015 ; Hokkanen and Leppänen 2015 ; Hokkanen et al 2016a , b ; Liikkanen et al 2014 ; Kuusinen et al 2019 ; Lindgren and Münch 2016 ; Silveira et al 2021 ; Guerino et al 2021 ; Saad et al 2021 ). We explore their results in more detail below.…”

“…The literature on software startups has discussed UX design as a critical factor that can support teams in the creation of software that brings value to users and businesses (Hokkanen et al 2016b ; Unterkalmsteiner et al 2016 ; Giardino et al 2016 ; Hokkanen and Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila 2015 ; Saad et al 2021 ; Silveira et al 2021 ). Since software startups have limited resources and work with small teams, their activities are run on very tight schedules, and often they do not prioritise the design of UX (Hokkanen et al 2016b ).…”

“…Similarly to Saad et al ( 2021 ) and Hokkanen and Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila ( 2015 ), we use the term UX work to refer to the use of user-centred approaches, practices, and techniques with the purpose of acquiring and applying knowledge about the target audience. Investigation on how to conduct UX work in startups is needed because of the particular conditions under which startups operate, i.e., time pressure and lack of resources (Paternoster et al 2014 ; Hokkanen et al 2016b ; Unterkalmsteiner et al 2016 ; Silveira et al 2021 ). By understanding how UX work is carried out in these conditions, we can improve current UX approaches, practices, and techniques and/or design new ones so that software startups can deliver better products.…”

“…The literature mostly discusses the needs and challenges related to UX work in startups without relating them to the day to day activities of software development (Silveira et al 2021 ; Hokkanen et al 2015 ; Hokkanen and Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila 2015 ). Although the literature mentioned has shown that user data is relevant to UX work, there is no research on how UX practices can support the software teams in startups to process the user data that is collected.…”

Online Store Aesthetics Impact Efficacy of Product Recommendations and Highlighting

“…It is good when a website remains in the customer’s memory, stands out in a certain way, and at the same time is aesthetic and useful. Therefore, user experience (UX) design plays an increasingly important role [ 2 ]. To ensure refined aesthetics, it is necessary to know the meaning of specific elements of the online store to the user.…”