Nowadays, we can see software in all aspects of our lives. We use it to connect with each other, get various services, manage data and of course handle various physical things like self-driving cars, intelligent houses, medical equipment, and so on. Don’t you think we need a professional software ethic oath to ensure companies care about their users and customers?
All the pre-mentioned things could be dangerous for our lives if companies do not produce them properly. It shows that quality is a really important factor that no producer should compromise with. But what guarantees that all software players like developers, testers, analysts, product designers, … adhere to the ethical behavior in their profession?
You know, cutting quality corners is literally difficult to be discovered until you find its effect on the real lives of customers.
I have recently read about physicians’ oath. It is originally called the Hippocratic Oath which aims to treat the ill to the best of one’s ability, to preserve a patient’s privacy, to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, and so on.
I strongly believe we need such the same thing in the software industry. The first benefit of such an oath is that software practitioners understand what ethical behavior is and get familiar with its various aspects and then behave based on them.
Fortunately, a few years ago, several Professional Scrum Trainers (PST) created something that is similar to the concept of this blog post called “Software Professional Code of Ethics”. It wrote:
Software Professional Code of Ethics
“As a software professional, I will conduct myself honestly and ethically wherever I operate in the world. I will adhere to the code of ethics herein and uphold the values of Openness, Courage, Respect, Focus, and Commitment.
I will not waver from any of the following professional standards under any pressure or incentive and:
- I will understand and communicate the value of the work delivered.
- I will define and uphold a clear and transparent standard of quality and I will not compromise on that standard.
- I will not withhold any information that might harm my team, our stakeholders, our users, or the public community.
- I will not imply certainty where it does not exist.
- I will selflessly share my knowledge with others.
- I will continuously improve myself.
- I will do the best I can.
- I will challenge anyone that does not demonstrate the professional standards herein.
- I will uphold this code of ethics for myself and others so we collectively improve the software profession.
By this code, I will abide and subscribe.”
I think it is a great start point and we can use it as the “software ethic oath” that all people in the software profession should swear snd behave based on. What do you think? Share your ideas in the comments section.
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