Inclusion of human values in the specification of systems: bridging design and systems engineering

Abstract

This paper investigates a method for ensuring that systems engineers generate requirements related to human values. It looks at the work of a project team that designs and develops complex systems in a company recognized for the application of Systems Engineering to deliver innovative systems. The research data was drawn from a real project. We developed a tool that prescribes a structure to analyze human stakeholders and to describe use case scenarios. The tool enabled the systems engineers to generate twenty‐five new requirements all of which were added to the system specification. Thirteen of these requirements contain aspects related to human values. Initially, the specification included only two requirements related to human values. We conclude that the importance of specifying human values has increased among the engineers of the team. Further investigation is ongoing in order to evaluate the potential of generalizing the new tool, its efficiency and effectiveness.