Human factors in requirements engineering: A survey of human sciences literature relevant to the improvement of dependable systems development processes

Requirements Engineering (RE) is an inherently social process, involving the contribution of individuals working in an organizational context. Furthermore, failures in the RE process will potentially lead to systematic failures in the products that are produced as a result. Consequently, the RE process for dependable systems development should itself be considered as a dependable process, and therefore subject to greater scrutiny for vulnerabilities to error. Research on human error has typically focused on the work of individual actors from a cognitive perspective. This paper presents a survey which broadens the view on what contributes to human error by also examining work from the social and organizational literature. This review was conducted to inform efforts to improve the systems development process for dependable systems, and in particular their requirements engineering process. Prepared for IwC Special Issue on Human Error and Systems Development 1 Human Factors in Requirements Engineering A survey of human sciences literature relevant to the improvement of dependable systems development processes Stephen Viller1, John Bowers2, Tom Rodden3 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 1,3 Computing Department 2 Department of Psychology Lancaster University University of Manchester Lancaster LA1 4YR Manchester M13 9PL Fax: +44 1524 593608 Fax: +44 161 275 2588 Requirements Engineering (RE) is an inherently social process, involving the contribution of individuals working in an organizational context. Furthermore, failures in the RE process will potentially lead to systematic failures in the products that are produced as a result. Consequently, the RE process for dependable systems development should itself be considered as a dependable process, and therefore subject to greater scrutiny for vulnerabilities to error. Research on human error has typically focused on the work of individual actors from a cognitive perspective. This paper presents a survey which broadens the view on what contributes to human error by also examining work from the social and organizational literature. This review was conducted to inform efforts to improve the systems development process for dependable systems, and in particular their requirements engineering process