A Case for Human Values in Software Engineering

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.