A Case for Human Values in Software Engineering

Abstract

This article argues that human values-such as responsibility, transparency, creativity, and equality-are heavily under-represented in software engineering methods. Based on experiences with real-world projects with not-for-profits, we explore how human values can be integrated into existing participatory agile practices. We propose new ways of considering human values in software practice, including: the use of the Schwartz taxonomy of human values and values portraits to contextualise values definitions; the use of values as a way to capture the rationale for requirements to ensure a culture of values throughout the software lifecycle; and a simple adaptation of agile methods to include a role for a 'critical friend' who can champion values during decision making.

A First Look at Human Values-Violation in App Reviews

“…We aim to help developers to better understand and identify these end user human values violations in their apps with a view to being able to both fix them and avoid them in future. Following this aim, we guided our study with the following questions: [26] -have been well studied in the social sciences, resulting in various concepts and theories of human values [27]. In their work on the perception of values by future professionals, Parashar et al surveyed students on their impressions of values that currently exist and those that ought to exist in society [29].…”

“…For example, by using participatory design methods that are focused on ensuring the values of users are captured and documented as rationales in the requirements phase. Another example is the assignment of a "critical friend" in a participatory agile process to ensure design considerations are consistent with the given values of all stakeholders [27]. We advocate raising awareness of the importance of values in mobile software engineering (both in industry and academia) and the merit of values leadership in evolving the software development practice mindset.…”

“…While Friedman's value-sensitive design "emphasises values with an ethical import", others have argued for the study of the role of all human values in SE, beyond an ethically oriented subset, with the aim of understanding the interdependence relationship between different values [5]. Using realworld projects with non-profits, Whittle et al made a case for human values in SE based on Schwartz's value model, and how they can be integrated into existing SE practices [27].…”

Investigating the Potential Impact of Values on Requirements and Software Engineering

“…[3] described a research road map for building an ontology of values, operationalizing implications of values in software and resolving value clashes between developers and stakeholders. [4] demonstrate the use of values in agile development and participatory design using the Schwartz [18] taxonomy (see below). This taxonomy was applied in a case study deconstructing the European data privacy regulations (GDPR) [2] showing the direct and indirect links between rights, principles, and values such as privacy, trust, transparency, accuracy and lawfulness.…”

“…Values and ethical concerns have been investigated in software engineering (SE), with particular emphasis on sustainability and privacy [1][2]. While value manifestos [3][4] have drawn attention to values and related phenomena, guidance to inform software engineers about potential design implications of values has been less forthcoming. Values may emerge from ethnographic analysis [5][6], although interpreting their design implications relies on the intuition and experience of the analyst.…”