UX as Disruption: Managing Team Conflict as a Productive Resource

Emma J. Rose and Josh Tenenberg
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Emma J. Rose: University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA
Josh Tenenberg: University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA

International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development (IJSKD), 2015, vol. 7, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Over the past 30 years, there has been an ongoing shift in software from a system-centered to user-centered approach. When user-centered approaches are introduced to teams and organizations, conflict often emerges. Conflict could be dismissed as idiosyncratic differences among team members. In this paper, the authors account for conflicts as a clash of worldview between occupational communities: engineers and UX designers. They define the engineering worldview as the application of science and mathematics to structure sociotechnical processes to solve concrete, pre-specified problems, from an external perspective. By contrast, the UX worldview is a human-centered exploration, through iterative cycles of design and inquiry, of the contingent and context-sensitive ways people mediate activities with technologies and systems. Interpersonal conflict in teams symbolizes a conflict between sharply contrasting ways of seeing the world. By considering the root causes, project managers can productively leverage the expertise of both communities by managing expectations, relations, and artifacts.

Date: 2015
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