Design Thinking and Agility in Digital Production: The Key Role of User Experience Design

In this article, we propose a new approach to user-centered design through the combination of two theories: design thinking (DT) and organizational agility. It aims at analyzing the adaptation of DT to the element of speed imposed by agility, especially in sprint mode. It also targets to understand how these two concepts serve each other in order to improve digital production. A study carried out with 20 French user experience (UX) designers and 10 partners who regularly work with the UX designers (product owners (PO); developers (DEV); PO DEV; user interface designers) generates a new exploratory model of pragmatic design. This model includes three levels: user-inspired design, adjusted design, and responsive design. These three levels represent the alchemical and iterative aspects of UX design. This article additionally assigns new adjustment, stabilization, responsiveness, and proactivity roles to design. It also confirms Peirce's pragmatic semiotics approach with its three interacting entities of representation (user habits), object (digital screen, website, or application), and interpreter (user).