User-centered approaches in software development processes:Qualitative research into the practice of Hungarian companies

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m8JxYdQJQ-23n5WUURYYrUZqrtT-2Xko/view?usp=drive_link

Integrating user-centered approaches into development processes is one of the mainchallenges nowadays that derives from different objectives of software engineering(SE) and human-computer interaction (HCI) fields. For SE experts, the main goal isquality code creation, whereas for HCI professionals, it is the continuous productinteraction with the users. The major question is what tools and timings can be usedtogether to achieve these goals effectively. Therefore, this article provides compara-tive, exploratory, and qualitative research about possible solutions on how practi-tioners transfer HCI values and practices to SE processes. The current practice ofsoftware companies was studied by conducting interviews on a sample of13 Hungarian Information Technology companies to explore the SE processes inrespect of several dimensions (applied development models, the integrity of user-centered methods, and the user experience [UX] maturity). According to preliminaryexpectations, the development processes of the various companies proceed in differ-ent steps; nevertheless, they can be well grouped together based on the UX methodsapplied. The results representing the various user-centered processes can be consid-ered useful for future decision makers of software companies worldwide.