1. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
2. Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related documents on which they work.
3. Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications, passes appropriate tests, and does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy or harm the environment.
4. Treat all forms of software maintenance with the same professionalism as new development.
5. Principle 5: MANAGEMENTSoftware engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance .
6. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
7. Be fair and avoid deception in all statements, particularly public ones, concerning software or related documents, methods and tools.
8. However, even in this generality, the Code provides support for software engineers and managers of software engineers who need to take positive action in a specific case by documenting the ethical stance of the profession.
9. Refuse to participate, as members or advisors, in a private, governmental or professional body concerned with software related issues, in which they, their employers or their clients have undisclosed potential conflicts of interest.
10. These Principles should influence software engineers to consider broadly who is affected by their work; to examine if they and their colleagues are treating other human beings with due respect; to consider how the public, if reasonably well informed, would view their decisions; to analyze how the least empowered will be affected by their decisions; and to consider whether their acts would be judged worthy of the ideal professional working as a software engineer.
1. Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.
2. Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand, departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.
3. Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
4. Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
5. Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.
6. Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.
7. Take responsibility for detecting, correcting, and reporting errors in software and associated documents on which they work.
8. Ensure that specifications for software on which they work have been well documented, satisfy the users’
9. In particular, those managing or leading software engineers shall, as appropriate:Ensure good management for any project on which they work, including effective procedures for promotion of quality and reduction of risk.
10. Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.
1. Principle 6: PROFESSIONSoftware engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.
2. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Strive for high quality, acceptable cost and a reasonable schedule, ensuring significant tradeoffs are clear to and accepted by the employer and the client, and are available for consideration by the user and the public.
3. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession.
4. In particular, those managing or leading software engineers shall, as appropriate:Ensure good management for any project on which they work, including effective procedures for promotion of quality and reduction of risk.
5. In particular, software engineers shall continually endeavor to:Further their knowledge of developments in the analysis, specification, design, development, maintenance and testing of software and related documents, together with the management of the development process.
6. These Principles should influence software engineers to consider broadly who is affected by their work; to examine if they and their colleagues are treating other human beings with due respect; to consider how the public, if reasonably well informed, would view their decisions; to analyze how the least empowered will be affected by their decisions; and to consider whether their acts would be judged worthy of the ideal professional working as a software engineer.
7. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Accept full responsibility for their own work.
8. Principle 8: SELFSoftware engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.
9. The Code contains eight Principles related to the behavior of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession.
10. Not unfairly intervene in the career of any colleague; however, concern for the employer, the client or public interest may compel software engineers, in good faith, to question the competence of a colleague.
1. It is not intended that the individual parts of the Code be used in isolation to justify errors of omission or commission.
2. The dynamic and demanding context of software engineering requires a code that is adaptable and relevant to new situations as they occur.
3. The Code contains eight Principles related to the behavior of and decisions made by professional software engineers, including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the profession.
4. Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an employer's policy or of this Code.
5. Report significant violations of this Code to appropriate authorities when it is clear that consultation with people involved in these significant violations is impossible, counter-productive or dangerous.
6. In all these judgments concern for the health, safety and welfare of the public is primary; that is, the "Public Interest" is central to this Code.
7. Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
8. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
9. The Code is not simply for adjudicating the nature of questionable acts; it also has an important educational function.
10. Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the software engineer's commitment to this Code of ethics, and the subsequent ramifications of such commitment.
1. Principle 8: SELFSoftware engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.
2. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
3. Principle 5: MANAGEMENTSoftware engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance .
4. Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.
5. The Code helps to define those actions that are ethically improper to request of a software engineer or teams of software engineers.
6. The Code is not a simple ethical algorithm that generates ethical decisions.
7. Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical concern.
8. As this Code expresses the consensus of the profession on ethical issues, it is a means to educate both the public and aspiring professionals about the ethical obligations of all software engineers.
9. The Principles identify the ethically responsible relationships in which individuals, groups, and organizations participate and the primary obligations within these relationships.
10. Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand, departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.