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Let's understand the business case for making products more ethical.
New Terms:
- Risk Matrix: A chart used to define the level of risk by considering the probability of something happening against the resulting severity of the consequence. Used in risk assessment for businesses to decide on priorities of tasks.
Build the business case for ethical decisions
- It's a global trend (future-proofing)
- It protects the brand's reputation
- It's costly not to do it; it's part of software maintenance
Further Reading:
- The Ethical Design Handbook - by Trine Falbe, Martin Michael Frederiksen, Kim Andersen. Refer to Chapter 4: The Business of ethical design (page 181)
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MICHELLE: Companies are primarily comprised of good
people who want to do the right thing.
0:00
But they're trapped by
the business model and
0:04
the pressure to show quarterly profits.
0:07
Public companies are accountable
to shareholders who seek
0:09
growth in their investment,
startup investors expect big exits.
0:12
While new regulations can provide
financial penalties to enforce
0:18
ethical decisions,
0:22
we can do our best to advocate from
within our capacity as tech employees.
0:24
Now that we understand the business
pressure, let's make a case for
0:29
ethical decisions.
0:33
Ethical design future proofs
the company to be sustainable long term.
0:34
There's a global trend towards privacy,
sustainability, transparency, and
0:40
corporate social responsibility.
0:45
Consumers are fed up with fraud,
identity theft, hacking, manipulation,
0:48
discrimination and
personal information misuse.
0:53
This is an opportunity to build trust and
brand loyalty.
0:57
Designing with ethical integrity
also sets the company up for
1:02
future regulatory compliance.
1:05
Designing with ethics also prevents
public relations nightmares.
1:09
Traceability holds companies accountable
as any missteps appear in news
1:14
publications, online reviews and
social media.
1:18
While some dark patterns provide
more revenue in the short term,
1:23
they degrade the company's
reputation in the long term.
1:27
You may hear the argument that taking
the time to perform an ethical cleanup
1:30
will be too time consuming,
and therefore, too costly.
1:34
Communicate the hidden costs
of not acting ethically,
1:39
you can visualize this
using a risk matrix.
1:43
Often developers and
1:46
designers assume the business is aware
of the consequences of its priorities.
1:47
Building fast leads to the immediate
task being accomplished, but
1:53
it can fool us into thinking
what we made was successful.
1:57
In reality, the cost is hidden or
externalized.
2:01
Shortcuts can result in low quality code,
privacy concerns,
2:05
bug fixes, and code refactoring.
2:09
This can unintentionally harm others.
2:13
So if leadership prioritizes working on
a feature that brings in more revenue.
2:16
Rather than doing routine maintenance,
such as ethical design cleanups,
2:20
advocate for slowing down.
2:25
Pitch for 60% of time spent on
new feature development and
2:27
40% of time spent on continual
projects and maintenance.
2:31
In that 40%, make a plan for improving
the system to be more fair and equitable.
2:35
I hope this provides you with some
ideas to convince your company to make
2:43
ethical design a priority.
2:47
The growing demand for
privacy, transparency and
2:49
respect, makes it easier to convince
companies to do the right thing.
2:52
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