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From: coggins@coggins.cs.unc.edu (Dr. James Coggins)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: ethics
Message-ID: <5084@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 4 Nov 88 16:48:23 GMT
References: <sXPWxty00Wo345oGM2@andrew.cmu.edu> <1902@daisy.UUCP>
Sender: news@thorin.cs.unc.edu
Reply-To: coggins@coggins.cs.unc.edu (Dr. James Coggins)
Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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In article <1902@daisy.UUCP> klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee) writes:
>Some activity that some software people could consider unethical:
>
Ken's list was good; here are some rather more subtle failures of
professional ethics that occur to me:

1. Deliberately underestimate the cost/time of a project in order
   to get a more favorable response in contract competition.

2. Engage in what Brooks calls "gutless estimating": 
    Customer: "How long will it take?"
    Programmer: "When do you want it?"
    Customer: "Six months from now."
    Programmer: (thinking) "My estimates say 12 months minimum but the
      customer can't prove that I can't finish in six months, so"
      (aloud): "Sure, I can do it in six months."

3. Bait-and-switch tactics:  Promise the customer what he wants and then
   when it's too late to back out force the customer to accept what you
   are able to produce conveniently.

4. The whole category of violations of intellectual property rights could
   yield many ethical problem cases, but I do have other work to do today.

5. Fail to perform services for which you have contracted, like 
   software maintenance, consultation, or set-up/installation.

6. As a manager, place a subordinate in a situation he or she is not
   qualified to handle (i.e. set up a scapegoat).

7. Fail to carefully design and evaluate a user interface that is
   going to be forced on employees who are powerless to evaluate it or
   complain about its awkwardness.  You have a responsibility to your
   USERS as well as to your CLIENT. A good user interface can make the
   system a joy to use.  A bad user interface can inflict real pain on
   its users.

8. Fail to inform your client of the relative costs of features he
   claims are desirable.  I do not accept the dictum "The client is
   always right". In many cases, the client is ignorant and needs to be
   enlightened. If I am worth my pay, there should be some things I know
   better than the client.  It is part of my professional
   responsibility to question the client's requests and to inform the
   client of the relative costs of his requests.
   "Yes sir, we can build a marble fireplace for your living room, but
   it will cost half as much as the whole rest of the house.  Are you
   sure you want it that bad?"

From Money magazine, Sept 1976, p. 48:
   "Deciding what to do is toughest when you're not directly involved in
a questionable practice but you know it's going on."

In my Software Engineering course last year, I had been mentioning
ethical concerns in the context of other (usually technical) issues
through the semester.  I was pleased later when I was asked by some
students to give a special lecture on ethics in software engineering.
I did, of course.  What's important here is that the students
requested it.  I was very pleased (even though it meant some more work
for me) that the topics I had been covering caused them to think along
those lines and ask for an hour to be devoted to ethical issues. The 
discussion was lively and that turned into one of the best class
meetings all semester.