Eliciting Human Values by Applying Design Thinking Techniques in Systems Engineering

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of Design Thinking techniques for capturing and communicating human values in the early phase of Systems Engineering. To develop products, systems, or services that satisfy the stakeholders, the systems engineer (SE) must understand the emotional needs of the stakeholder. The goal is to derive stakeholder requirements from the need analysis to create solutions that satisfy the quantitative and emotional need of the stakeholders. A development project team conducts three field visits where they interview and observe stakeholders in their work environment. The project team uses visual mapping tools to communicate and discuss findings and to create a mutual understanding of the stakeholder needs. We evaluate the method using interviews, surveys, and analyses of the derived requirements. The results indicate that the team gained a better understanding of the human values and succeeded in deriving human values into stakeholder requirements.