Practical applicability of user experience capability/maturity models in the development processes of free and open-source software: a systematic literature review

The popularity of User Experience (UX) is exponentially mounting because it predicts users’ engagement through satisfying needs. It further determines product success, revenues augmentation, employee gratifications, user errors, and vital supports. However, contemporary UX Capability Maturity Models (UXCMMs) do not adequately address Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) UX, a substantiated root of adoption misfortune.Improving UX may result from a precise appraisal of the as-is organisational status. Although Software Engineering endorses CMMI, ISO 15504/ISO/IECTS 33061 and UXCMMs for this judgement, none has processes for evaluating FOSSs’ UX. Moreover, the FOSS community has neither theories nor hypotheses to map UXCMMs’ formulation processes. It knows very little regarding their practical applicability, which leaves functional relevance uncertainties.In retorting to present uncertainties, this study accomplished the Systematic Literature Review and encountered eight pertinent articles. They show that most UXCMMs originated from recognised models. Moreover, neither developed nor validated experimentally, used similar methodologies with patched documents and are not exclusive for the FOSS community. They neither handle challenges properly nor reflect earlier studies’ endorsements.The study’s contributions to discovered gaps include proposing additional research areas and a FOSS-specific UXCMMs development checklist to identify UX metrics and standardise UXCMMs’ development processes.