UX and design culture are beginning to dominate corporate priorities, but despite the current hype there is often a disconnect between the organizational efficiencies desired by executives and the knowledge of how UX can or should address these issues. This exploratory study addresses this space by reframing the concept of competence in UX to include the flow of competence between individual designers and the companies in which they work. Our reframing resulted in a preliminary schema based on interviews conducted with six design practitioners, which allows this flow to be traced in a performative way on the part of individuals and groups over time. We then trace this flow of individual and organizational competence through three case studies of UX adoption. Opportunities for use of this preliminary schema as a generative, rhetorical tool for HCI researchers to further interrogate UX adoption are considered, including accounting for factors that affect adoption.

1. flow of competence in
UX DESIGN PRACTICE
COLIN M. GRAY
AUSTIN L. TOOMBS
& SHAD D. GROSS
Iowa State University
Indiana University

3. Little attention has been paid to the implementation
of UX practices within a corporate context, particularly
in what value it can (or should be able to)
bring to the organization

4. “[UX designer] roles are often misunderstood and our adjacent
disciplines such as product management and development see their
work as unnecessary or in some cases are threatened by them. [...]
We find that the culture of the company we are trying to deploy UX
resources into isn’t ready to accept them and we find that our role
becomes more that of a change manager than a user experience
manager. We have a vision for what the future processes of the company
can look like but we find it hard to communicate that vision…. ”
(Thompson, Anderson, Au, Ratzlaff, & Zada, 2010)

5. Documenting elements of competence in UX practice
Mapping the flow or movement of competence
between UX practitioners and companies
courtesy of Juhan Sonin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/7797009214

6. Identity-centric view of UX competence
(Gray, 2014)
T-shaped design thinkers
(Guest,1991; Futt & Rasid, 2011)
Design leadership, or “being in service”
(Nelson & Stolterman, 2012)
courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4325067780

7. FROM STATIC TO DYNAMIC
Moving from identifying a static set of
UX competencies to understanding how
competencies are built and evolve over time

8. FROM STATIC TO DYNAMIC
Moving from identifying a static set of
UX competencies to understanding how
competencies are built and evolve over time
Training of UX designers
UX impact on organizations
Organizational reaction to UX adoption

9. DATA COLLECTION
• One hour interview with six practitioners in a range of
design disciplines
• Working definition of competence in relation to their practice
and professional experience
ANALYSIS
• Emergent thematic analysis in two phases
• Creation of a preliminary schema
OUR APPROACH

10. DATA COLLECTION
• One hour interview with three additional UX practitioners
• Competence in interaction design, their design process, and
relevant flow patterns to explore their change in competence
over time
ANALYSIS
• Three case studies, showing a wide range of variation
ESTABLISHING GENERATIVE VALUE

11. SCHEMA
Ultimate purpose is
generative insights, not a
precise modeling of reality
(Nelson & Stolterman, 2012)

12. INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
ESPOUSED
INUSE

13. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
INUSE
ESPOUSED
a

14. CASE STUDIES
PETER
SENIOR INTERACTION
DESIGNER
5 1/2 years
experience working
for an educational
software company
NASCENT TO
DEVELOPED
DESIGN CULTURE
JOEL
UX MANAGER
5 1/2 years
experience working
for a software
company
PUSHING
DESIGN CULTURE
FORWARD
MARTIN
INTERACTIVE DESIGN
ENGINEER
1 year experience
working for a large
technology
company
DESIGNING IN AN
ENGINEERING
CULTURE

15. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
PERFORM
your beliefs as
a UX designer
ALTER
your beliefs
based on your
performance
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE INDIVIDUAL
INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE

16. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
PERFORM
your beliefs as
a UX designer
ALTER
your beliefs
based on your
performance
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Taking part in non-company design activities to
maintain a “contemporary process”
Reading widely and regularly
Engaging in formal or informal community
building within the organization
PETER, MARTIN, & JOEL

17. the organization
PERFORMS
its beliefs
the organization
ALTERS
its beliefs
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE ORGANIZATION
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE

18. the organization
PERFORMS
its beliefs
the organization
ALTERS
its beliefs
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE ORGANIZATION
Company hired executives sympathetic to design
PETER & JOEL
“There are a lot of career, highly decorated engineers
that now have to deal with people telling them how to
design their product, and it’s challenging"
MARTIN

19. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters company
practice
company
practices
CHANGE
INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE

20. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters company
practice
company
practices
CHANGE
“…we know we need you, but we also need you to
teach us what you do and we need you to teach us
how to facilitate what you do. It’s a lot of education
to stakeholders about what it is you do because
no one here really knows about it.”
MARTIN

21. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters company
practice
company
practices
CHANGE
“I could either leave or I could make the best of it.
[...] Looking back at it now, it seems kind of ballsy,
‘cause now that I’m at this point in my career, it
looks like I had a chip on my shoulder. The key to
doing things like this is always to be tactful.”
JOEL
“When you used to talk about UX, I
thought you were full of shit. But now I
actually believe what you do is valuable.”

22. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters individual
practice
beliefs
enable
PERFORMANCE
INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE

23. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters individual
practice
beliefs
enable
PERFORMANCE
“…the responsibility is on the designer to fit
themselves with the business, rather than the business
trying to fit a designer, and find one that fits them”
“[stop] asking those questions and rely on a little bit
more faith. Whether it’s right or wrong really isn’t in my
control. I had to let go of that.”
MARTIN

24. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters individual
practice
beliefs
enable
PERFORMANCE
Engages in side projects, “work[ing] on things in the
way he thinks it is appropriate.”
PETER

25. INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
INUSE
ESPOUSED

26. “When I came out of school, my realistic competence level should
have been [lower], and I was way up here [higher] […] and I pissed
people off. I’d get into these conversations with people and really
push the envelope, saying ‘you know what, we aren’t meeting the
needs that the users have’ and all of the things that you know are
true. […] competence comes in when you understand why
it’s not possible.”
PETER

27. persistence of individuals + larger organizational forces
BUILDING A DESIGN CULTURE
REQUIRES LEADERSHIP
[AND LUCK]

28. STRATEGIES FOR UX ADOPTION
EVANGELIZING
UX practices to
stakeholders
TEACHING
UX practices
to colleagues
Educating both colleagues and the stakeholders about
the capabilities of UX, and building competencies for
delivery and sustainment of UX principles appears to
be key to a culture of UX taking hold.

29. Exploring the tensions and additional states that may
exist over time between espoused and in use frames
Additional attention should be paid to UX adoption
strategies, both within practice and in UX education
courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4328394839

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