[Paper Review] Models for Integrating UX into Software Engineering Practice: an Industrial Validation.

Pariya Kashfi, Robert Feldt+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 15, 2014

Usability and User Interface Design21 references4 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes two software engineering-specific UX models—a layered model linking functional, quality, and UX requirements, and a process overview model integrating UX activities into software development. Validated with 12 practitioners, the models improved UX awareness, communication, and decision-making, demonstrating practical utility in industrial settings.

ABSTRACT

Abstract—The user’s overall experience and perception of functionalities and qualities of a product, User eXperience (UX), is becoming increasingly important for success of software prod-ucts. Yet, many software companies face challenges with their UX practices, hence fail to achieve a good UX in their products. Part of these challenges are rooted in inadequate knowledge and awareness about UX but also in that UX models are commonly not well integrated with existing software engineering (SE) models and concepts. Therefore, we present two SE-specific models of UX for practitioners: (i) a layered model that shows the relation between functional, quality, and UX requirements, and (ii) a general, UX-aware software process overview model that shows the additional concepts and activities that can help achieve a good UX. Validation of the models in interviews with 12 practitioners and researchers generally found the models useful for practice; for instance to raise knowledge and awareness about UX, improve communications regarding UX and facilitating making UX-aware decisions in the development process. In total, we identified six different areas of use for the models. Index Terms—User eXperience, quality requirements, non-task-related, hehonic, non-instrumental. I.

Motivation & Objective

• Address the gap in integrating User Experience (UX) into mainstream software engineering (SE) practices.
• Overcome challenges stemming from low UX awareness and poor integration of UX with existing SE models and concepts.
• Develop practical, SE-specific UX models to guide practitioners in achieving better UX in software products.
• Validate the models in real-world industrial contexts to assess their usability and impact on UX practices.

Proposed method

• Propose a layered UX model that explicitly represents the relationships between functional requirements, quality requirements, and UX requirements.
• Develop a general UX-aware software process model that identifies additional activities and concepts to embed UX throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Conduct semi-structured interviews with 12 practitioners and researchers to evaluate the models’ clarity, relevance, and usefulness.
• Analyze interview feedback to identify recurring themes and practical applications of the models in industrial settings.
• Use qualitative analysis to extract six distinct areas of application for the models in real-world software development.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can UX be systematically integrated into existing software engineering models and processes?
• RQ2 What are the key challenges practitioners face in achieving good UX, and how can models help address them?
• RQ3 In what ways can UX-aware models improve communication, decision-making, and awareness in software development teams?
• RQ4 How do industrial practitioners perceive the practical value and usability of SE-specific UX models?

Key findings

• The layered UX model effectively visualized the interplay between functional, quality, and UX requirements, enhancing conceptual clarity.
• The process overview model successfully identified essential UX-specific activities and concepts to integrate into standard SE lifecycles.
• Practitioners reported increased UX awareness and improved cross-team communication after using the models.
• The models facilitated more intentional, UX-informed decisions during software development, especially in requirement elicitation and design phases.
• Six distinct areas of application were identified, including requirement specification, process improvement, and team training.
• Overall, the models were perceived as practical tools that bridge the gap between UX theory and software engineering practice.