Untold Stories: Unveiling the Scarce Contributions of UX Professionals to Usability Issue Discussions of Open Source Software Projects
Arghavan Sanei, Jinghui Cheng
TL;DR
Open source usability discussions on issue trackers are often developer-centric, risking neglect of UX input. The authors conduct a mixed-methods analysis on a labeled dataset from five OSS projects to identify how the few UX professionals post and follow up, comparing their patterns with other contributors. Key findings show that UX professionals address a broader set of usability concerns with fact-based arguments and neutral tone, and that their follow-ups aim to clarify and extend discussions, despite overall scarcity. The work suggests practical design and process changes—such as UX-centric collaboration spaces and UX-metrics integration—to boost UX involvement and thereby enhance OSS usability and end-user satisfaction.
Abstract
Previous work established that open source software (OSS) projects can benefit from the involvement of UX professionals, who offer user-centric perspectives and contributions to improve software usability. However, their participation in OSS issue discussions (places where design and implementation decisions are often made) is relatively scarce since those platforms are created with a developer-centric mindset. Analyzing a dataset sampled from five OSS projects, this study identifies UX professionals' distinct approaches to raising and following up on usability issues. Compared to other contributors, UX professionals addressed a broader range of usability issues, well-supported their stances, and were more factual than emotional. They also actively engage in discussions to provide additional insights and clarifications in comments following up on the issues they posted. Results from this study provide useful insights for increasing UX professionals' involvement in OSS communities to improve usability and end-user satisfaction.