Response to Shame and Disgust by Louis Rosenfeld

I recently read a blog post by Louis Rosenfeld, titled “Shame and Disgust” about an ethical issue he faced a while back. A link to his story was posted as an example of dilemmas worth discussing at an upcoming usability conference. Due to spam, his post is now closed to comments. However, he found my reply useful and gave me his blessing to post it here for you.

Hello Lou,

You asked what you “should have done.” I can’t answer that, but I can tell you what I would have done as a contractor in this order:

1. I would have slept on it and calmed down.
2. Stopped everything and scheduled a brief private person-to-person meeting with the person who told me, “they didn’t really want to make it easy for veterans” [His dilemma:  It appeared that his client asked him to go against his better judgment and avoid making a website as usable as possible for the intended web site visitors, who happened to be U.S. military veterans. ]
3. In that meeting, I would fully support this person and want to hear this person’s full story. I would start by asking for clarification because it really seemed to me that I must have misunderstood. Adding that it seemed to go against all my training and I wanted to make sure they weren’t asking me to do something illegal or professionally inappropriate. I would leave a wide girth for that person to change their stance or blame someone else for the policy (just following orders). If they change their mind, GREAT – move ahead with new direction.
4. If they blame someone else, I can choose to expand my scope of the project and:
   1. Ask them how they feel about the policy they have to enforce. If they feel good about it, put on my business analysis cap and ask a lot of questions to dig up whether there is another way (of course there is always another way) to address the true business problem that this policy is trying to address. (Remember that when people oppress or feel oppressed, both feel they are victims of a system in which they are caught not knowing how to change.) So, in essence, I look for ways to make this person a hero by finding a win-win business solution.
   2. Ask them who is responsible for the policy and what it would take for me to get a private meeting with that person to ask for clarification (basically move up the command chain til I get someone willing to take responsibility for the policy), so I can move forward with the project. I would do this knowing full well that I might get fired for the inquiry. Again, my query is personal. I want to know that in fact they were NOT asking me to do something illegal or professionally inappropriate, so I can proceed with my work.

These meetings in themselves are awareness-raising for the people I meet with. I meet them as a peer professional for the sole purpose of making my OWN ethical decision. I am not there to whistle-blow or put people on the spot. The fact that I even need to ask these questions is going to make most feel itchy. That’s good. I’ve done my job well. Usability in general makes some people itchy. Especially people who like to control things from their own viewpoint. So, you see, I imagine that it is my job to help people see things differently. Not change them. Just help them see things differently.

So after these 1-3 meetings, I continue working on the project and wait to make my ethical decision… Sometimes after a few days or a week, the way magically opens after people have gotten itchy and they do what they can to move the itch or make it go away.

IF things don’t change and its really clear to me that the Agency is indeed asking me to do something that I feel is professionally inappropriate, I will state this plainly and matter of factly and give my notice, with a bill and deliverables completed so far. No fan fare. I don’t need to embarrass people, who I know see themselves as innocent. I only need to help people see things differently, because that’s the nature of my job.

There is plenty of work out there that doesn’t require me to be inappropriate. Letting go of a mismatched job just opens the way for something better.

In case you’re wondering, have I been in such a situation? Yes. Not the same details, but there was a similar need to help the client see another way to meet their goals that was more ethical or more legal. Have I been fired for it? Not yet. So far, they are REALLY GRATEFUL for this adviser-ly approach.