10.29327/1884517.29-14
Context. Requirements debt (RD) refers to decisions regarding which requirements the development team should implement or how they should be implemented. While prior work has investigated RD from multiple perspectives, limited attention has been given to explicitly conceptualizing the role of human factors in its emergence. Goal. This work introduces Requirements People Debt (RPD), a human-centered perspective on RD that explains how human-related conditions lead to observable deficiencies in requirements artifacts and activities. Method. We cross-analyzed findings from two complementary empirical studies on desirable and undesirable attributes of requirements engineers. Results. We identified 12 causes of RPD, with difficulties in interpersonal relationships and lack of communication being the most frequently mentioned. We also found 55 preventive practices, the most notable being participation in training activities, maintaining frequent communication with stakeholders, and improving business understanding. Conclusion. We organized the findings on RPD into a conceptual map, which may support initiatives aimed at addressing RPD items in software projects and motivate future research in this area.
Keywords: Requirements Engineering; Requirement Debt; Conceptual Map
@inproceedings{wer202613,
author = {Pinheiro, L. and Freire, S. and Maciel, R. S. P.},
title = {Requirements People Debt: Conceptualizing Human Factors in Requirements Engineering Debt},
booktitle = {Anais do Workshop em Engenharia de Requisitos - Proceedings of the 29th Workshop on Requirements Engineering (WER2026)},
year = {2026},
issn = {2675-0066},
isbn = {978-65-02-19591-8},
doi = {10.29327/1884517.29-14}
}