Chapter 13 - The Design Implications of Users’ Values for Software and System Architecture

Abstract

This chapter argues the case for investigating users’ values as important influences on the design of software architecture. First, definitions of values in the psychological and sociological literature are reviewed, followed by a proposed taxonomy of values that are relevant to software engineering domains, such as trust, cooperativeness, privacy, and creativity. Stakeholder values are related to nonfunctional requirements or system quality attributes. The architectural implications for user values are described by linking values to design for autonomy, monitoring/awareness, and other architectural components. Implications are explained in terms of software and system (i.e., sociotechnical) architecture that relate software components to operations in system design with human factors and organizational concerns. Application of the value-based requirements engineering and architecture design method is illustrated in a case study of a medical research support system. Methods for eliciting user values in the requirements analysis process are explained, and the implications for the future of value-based software architectures are discussed.