A new study by Spanish researchers investigates the importance of emotions in software-engineering requirements. Led by scientists from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the study focused on how emotions shape a software development project’s requirements. Because software is designed and developed by humans, the researchers say emotions do drive the process, including the various acceptance and negotiation activities that take place during the development process. “In the world of computer system development consultants, I have often met disappointed users whose unhappiness was produced by a deficient collection of requirements,” stated Ricardo Colomo, one of the study’s authors. The researchers used a social-psychology tool called an affect grid to overlay a project’s requirements. They found that developers must take user’s emotions into account when negotiating and establishing software-development requirements, even when there are different stakes or emotional expectations for users compared to those held by the development team. Researchers from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Universidad de Murcia also collaborated on the study, the results of which appeared in the Journal of Universal Computer Science. (EurekAlert)(Journal of Universal Computer Science)