Adding Ethics to Agile: The Ethics Filter Framework (EFF)

Adding Ethics to Agile: The Ethics Filter Framework (EFF) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Adding Ethics to Agile: The Ethics Filter Framework (EFF) Vajo Sekulic, Verena Sekulic, Zheying Zhang, Tomas Herda This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9284537/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Contemporary agile development processes optimize for velocity and functional completeness, yet systematically disregard ethical considerations. This dilemma exposes a significant ethics gap, as organizations lack structured mechanisms to embed ethical deliberation within agile practices without impeding agility. Anchored by the ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-7000:2022 standard on Value-Based Engineering, we advance the integration of Value-Based Engineering throughout the agile requirements life cycle by introducing the Ethics Filter Framework (EFF), a bridging intervention designed to translate ethically indifferent or ambiguous User Stories into ethically coherent requirements through explicit value elicitation and stakeholder reflection. This urgency for this intervention is given by the rise of autonomous AI coding agents. Autonomous AI coding agents dramatically accelerate software production by transforming natural-language utterances directly into executable code, which means that any missing ethical requirement is instantly propagated into system logic without human oversight. In this setup, the User Story is the final actionable moment where ethical requirements can still be concretely integrated. Implementing Value-Based Engineering principles in User Stories, therefore, is a failsafe to prevent biased and unsafe behaviors, whether by means of Human or Artificial Intelligence, from being silently operationalized into system architectures. Our methodology reconceptualizes ethical evaluation as integral to the definition of quality in software requirements, which are formulated as User Stories in Agile practice. By establishing Values as a core component of User Stories, the Ethics Filter Framework (EFF) provides a structured approach to ensure that applications not only demonstrate functional and syntactic adequacy, but also uphold human dignity, autonomy, and fairness, thus advancing the notion of making ethics agile. Requirements Engineering User Story Value-Based En- gineering Agile Development Artificial Intelligence AI Ethics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9284537","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":619773490,"identity":"648fbbd5-690e-4ca0-b285-ab6b440e349c","order_by":0,"name":"Vajo Sekulic","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA60lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACNgaGBwYgxgHGB0CSh48oLQkQLcwgioeNOC1QlgSUjx/It7elSSQU2CX2Nx4+Vvk1x06GjYH54aMbeLQYnDl2TCLBIDlxxoFjabdltyUDHcZmbJyDT4tEehtQywFjhgNnzG5LbmMGauFhk8anRX7+c4gWeaCWYslt9YS1MNxgAznsgJwBUAvjx22HCWsxOJOWbAH0i5zhgWPJ0ozbjvOwMRPwi3z7McMbH/7Y8cjdOHzw489t1fb87M0PH+N1GBxIHGBg5gExmIlSDgL8DQyMP4hWPQpGwSgYBSMJAABl7EeLJvNP9gAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Johannes Kepler University of Linz","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vajo","middleName":"","lastName":"Sekulic","suffix":""},{"id":619773491,"identity":"13c60e98-b636-4942-8aea-8d31869a93e1","order_by":1,"name":"Verena Sekulic","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Vienna","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Verena","middleName":"","lastName":"Sekulic","suffix":""},{"id":619773492,"identity":"2845faf4-e5ec-4422-9984-349b55782502","order_by":2,"name":"Zheying Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tampere University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zheying","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":619773493,"identity":"b69f387c-dab5-455a-a639-e5284d4897a1","order_by":3,"name":"Tomas Herda","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Post Business Solutions GmbH","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tomas","middleName":"","lastName":"Herda","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-31 22:08:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9284537/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9284537/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107531961,"identity":"446a069c-4b95-4da1-ad4d-1d9f01e6ff66","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-22 10:37:18","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":478435,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EthicsFilterFrameworkFinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9284537/v1_covered_ee46d1d5-fd61-45f2-9636-40355df12570.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Adding Ethics to Agile: The Ethics Filter Framework (EFF)","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"requirements-engineering","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"reen","sideBox":"Learn more about [Requirements Engineering](http://link.springer.com/journal/766)","snPcode":"766","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/766/3","title":"Requirements Engineering","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Requirements Engineering, User Story, Value-Based En- gineering, Agile Development, Artificial Intelligence, AI Ethics","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9284537/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9284537/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Contemporary agile development processes optimize for velocity and functional completeness, yet systematically disregard ethical considerations. This dilemma exposes a significant ethics gap, as organizations lack structured mechanisms to embed ethical deliberation within agile practices without impeding agility.\n\nAnchored by the ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-7000:2022 standard on Value-Based Engineering, we advance the integration of Value-Based Engineering throughout the agile requirements life cycle by introducing the Ethics Filter Framework (EFF), a bridging intervention designed to translate ethically indifferent or ambiguous User Stories into ethically coherent requirements through explicit value elicitation and stakeholder reflection. \n\nThis urgency for this intervention is given by the rise of autonomous AI coding agents. Autonomous AI coding agents dramatically accelerate software production by transforming natural-language utterances directly into executable code, which means that any missing ethical requirement is instantly propagated into system logic without human oversight. In this setup, the User Story is the final actionable moment where ethical requirements can still be concretely integrated. \n\nImplementing Value-Based Engineering principles in User Stories, therefore, is a failsafe to prevent biased and unsafe behaviors, whether by means of Human or Artificial Intelligence, from being silently operationalized into system architectures. Our methodology reconceptualizes ethical evaluation as integral to the definition of quality in software requirements, which are formulated as User Stories in Agile practice. \n\nBy establishing Values as a core component of User Stories, the Ethics Filter Framework (EFF) provides a structured approach to ensure that applications not only demonstrate functional and syntactic adequacy, but also uphold human dignity, autonomy, and fairness, thus advancing the notion of making ethics agile.","manuscriptTitle":"Adding Ethics to Agile: The Ethics Filter Framework (EFF)","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-22 10:37:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9284537/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"requirements-engineering","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"reen","sideBox":"Learn more about [Requirements Engineering](http://link.springer.com/journal/766)","snPcode":"766","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/766/3","title":"Requirements Engineering","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7ce63a9c-2be8-4594-a13d-797ed16f056b","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 22nd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-17T11:38:50+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-22 10:37:02","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9284537","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9284537","identity":"rs-9284537","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}