Continual human value analysis in software development: a goal model based approach

Software failures that demonstrate violations of human values can result in financial losses, reputation damages and social implications. Therefore, integrating human values into software is vital to satisfy stakeholder needs. However, developing methodological approaches that allow systematic integration of human values throughout the software development life cycle is an open challenge. This paper proposes the Continual Value(s) Assessment (CVA) framework that uses extended goal and feature modeling techniques to support systematic integration, tracing and evaluation of human values in software systems. The CVA framework prescribes (i) brainstorming of value implications of system features based on conventional system artefacts and (ii) the expansion of the existing set of system features to better serve stakeholder values expectations. In a pilot study, we use an emergency alarm system for the elderly to demonstrate the feasibility of the framework. We further discuss the challenges we faced while applying the framework and present the lessons learned from the pilot study.