Value-based engineering

Value-based Engineering (VBE) is a system development and innovation approach that implements the IEEE St. 7000 "Model Process for Addressing Ethical Concerns during System Design", released in 2021. The standard was developed over a five-year period based on the initial work published in "Ethical IT innovation: A value-based system design approach" in 2015. Similar to value sensitive design, IEEE St. 7000 aims to provide a framework for the consideration of human values and ethical concerns. In the fall of 2022, IEEE St. 7000 has been adopted by ISO as ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-7000.

VBE aims to foster innovation as well as to protect ethical concerns. It aims to achieve this by considering the values and virtues relevant for direct and indirect stakeholders through an ethically founded elicitation and a translation into ethical value requirements (EVRs) as well as the specification of corresponding system requirements. VBE follows a sociotechnical perspective on system development.

VBE has a philosophical foundation in Max Scheler's Material Value Ethics and in post-phenomenology. This means a commitment to a value definition of: "phenomena disclosing  the degree of desirability of something or someone, influencing the selection of available modes, means and ends of action." The VBE uses three ethical investigations to identify clusters of values consisting of core values that are central to the system context and related value qualities (referred to in IEEE St. 7000 as "value demonstrators") that are expressions of a core value.

To ensure successful implementation of proposed VBE processes, a new role called Value Lead has been created which shall provide "... expertise and facilitative skills, bridging the gap between engineering, management, and ethical values in a constructive way." As a complement to IEEE St. 7000, VBE presents ten principles considered essential to ethical system design, as well as two risk-based pathways for specifying system requirements.

VBE integrates insights from fields such as information design, systems engineering, value sensitive design, participatory design, privacy by design, human–computer interaction, material value ethics by Max Scheler, utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics and risk assessment into an approach to ethical system design.

Engineering process
In VBE, ethical system design is achieved through four processes aligned with ISO/IEC 15288.


 * Concept of operation and context exploration process: This process aims to gain an initial understanding of the context, relevant stakeholders, legal, social, environmental, and ethical feasibility, and control over the intended external partners of a proposed system, and to develop a tangible concept of operations.
 * Ethical values elicitation and prioritization process: The impact of a proposed system on values and virtues is investigated using a utilitarian, virtue ethics, duty ethics, as well as a culture-specific perspective. While the utilitarian perspective helps identify harms and benefits to the direct and indirect stakeholders, the virtue ethics perspective identifies potentially harmful virtue effects, and the duty ethics perspective considers the impact of the system on duty ethics principles.
 * Ethically aligned design process: During this process core values and their value qualities are translated into EVRs which are then specified into system requirements. Unique to VBE is that either a threat analysis (low risk) or an impact assessment (high risk) is used for specifying system requirements, depending on the damage potential and probability of occurrence.
 * Transparency and information management process: This process accompanies the entire SDLC and aims primarily at creating transparency about the prioritized core values and their logical chain to the system requirements.

The ten principles
VBE complements IEEE St. 7000 by introducing ten principles essential for addressing ethical concerns during system design.


 * 1) Ecosystem responsibility: An organization shall take responsibility for their ecosystem and therefore forgo services over which they have no control.
 * 2) Willingness to renounce investment: An organization shall actively consider not investing in a system if there are ethical reasons for not doing so.
 * 3) Stakeholder inclusiveness: A system shall be developed in open collaboration with the direct and indirect stakeholders or their representatives.
 * 4) Use moral philosophies: Ethical investigations shall be used to elicit values.
 * 5) Context sensitivity: The system's implementation context shall be understood and potential impact anticipated.
 * 6) Respect for regional laws and international agreements: An organization is recommended to respect the ethical principles of the laws and signed agreements in its target market region.
 * 7) Leadership engagement: The management of an organization shall make a public and personal commitment to the chosen core values.
 * 8) Transparency of the value mission: An organization shall provide transparency on prioritized core values and their linkage to system requirements.
 * 9) Understanding values in depth:  A core value shall be understood in depth through conceptualization and its associated value qualities.
 * 10) Using risk-analysis for system requirements elicitation: EVRs shall be specified into system requirements through either a threat analysis (low risk) or an impact assessment (high risk).

Criticism
There are only a limited number of case studies that show that VBE is delivering on its promise to facilitate the development of innovative or even ethical systems.