The Impact of Considering Human Values during Requirements Engineering Activities
Harsha Perera, Rashina Hoda, Rifat Ara Shams, Arif Nurwidyantoro,, Mojtaba Shahin, Waqar Hussain, and Jon Whittle

TL;DR
Considering human values explicitly during early requirements engineering helps practitioners identify relevant values, connect them to features, and foster innovative, values-aligned software development, as shown in a scenario-based survey.
Contribution
This paper demonstrates the positive impact of explicitly integrating human values into requirements engineering and proposes a practical four-step values elicitation process.
Findings
Values consideration aids in identifying applicable human values.
Practitioners connect values with software features and purposes.
Explicit values focus encourages innovative thinking.
Abstract
Human values, or what people hold important in their life, such as freedom, fairness, and social responsibility, often remain unnoticed and unattended during software development. Ignoring values can lead to values violations in software that can result in financial losses, reputation damage, and widespread social and legal implications. However, embedding human values in software is not only non-trivial but also generally an unclear process. Commencing as early as during the Requirements Engineering (RE) activities promises to ensure fit-for-purpose and quality software products that adhere to human values. But what is the impact of considering human values explicitly during early RE activities? To answer this question, we conducted a scenario-based survey where 56 software practitioners contextualised requirements analysis towards a proposed mobile application for the homeless and…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSoftware Engineering Techniques and Practices · Service and Product Innovation · Persona Design and Applications
