The Ethics of Software Project Management

Miga Sebastian

We've all heard of technical issues but what about ethical issues?

Two aspects of software management I. Technical issues(design, safety, IDE, etc). II. Ethical issues(training personnel, keeping the project on schedule). Not in the spotlight, rarely the focus of articles.

Applying Ethics

An agreement between a supplier and a customer such is concerned with output quality and moral liability Ethical principles: Honor Is the action considered beyond reproach? Honesty Will the action violate any explicit or implicit agreement or trust? Bias Are there any external considerations that may bias the action to be taken? Professional adequacy Is the action within the limits of capability?

Applying ethics

Due care Is the action to be exposed to the best possible quality assurance standards? Fairness -- Are all stakeholder's views considered with regard to the action? Consideration of social cost Is the appropriate accountability and responsibility accepted with respect to this action? Effective and efficient action Is the action suitable, given the objectives set, and is it to be completed using the least expenditure of resources?

Generic Software Project Management

It is a basic approach one takes to getting a job done(O'Connell) SPM is comprised of ten steps: 1 Visualize what the goal is 2 Make a list of the jobs that need to be done 3 Ensure there is one leader 4 Assign people to jobs 5 Manage expectations, allow a margin of error and have a fallback position

Generic Software Project Management

6 Use an appropriate leadership style 7 Know what is going on 8 Tell people what is going on 9 Repeat Step 1 through 8 until Step 10 can be achieved 10 Realize the project goal

Ethical Management

The eight ethical principles can be used to provide an insight to how ethical management might be achieved.

Scope of Consideration

Stakeholders:

Stakeholders are mainly internal to the organizations. The ones who indirectly support the project either financially or politically are likely to be overlooked

Stakeholder Identification

Stakeholders need to be identified in time Once the stakeholders are identified one can itemise the specific obligations owed by the software developers to each of these stakeholders

Involvement

Once the stakeholders have been identified, it is necessary to seek their involvement in the development process in order to meet their rights in the most effective way.