IEEE Code of Ethics

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EIGHT principles that express responsibilities to:
1. The public
2. The client and employer
3. The product
4. Professional judgment
5. Management
6. The profession
7. Colleagues
8. Self

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 1. The public:
Software engineers shall act consistently with
the public interest

1.Accept full responsibility for their own work.

2.Moderate the interests of the software engineer, the employer, the
client and the users with the public good.
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.
The ultimate effect of the work should be to the public good.
4.Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or
potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment, that
they reasonably believe to be associated with software or related
documents.

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 1. The public (cont)

5. Cooperate in efforts to address matters of grave public

concern caused by software, its installation, maintenance,
support or documentation.
6. Be fair and avoid deception in all statements, particularly
public ones, concerning software or related documents,
methods and tools.
7. Consider issues of physical disabilities, allocation of resources,
economic disadvantage and other factors that can diminish
access to the benefits of software.
8. Be encouraged to volunteer professional skills to good causes
and contribute to public education concerning the discipline.

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 2. The client and employer:
Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in
the best interests of their client and employer,
consistent with the public interest
1. Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and
forthright about any limitations of their experience and
education.
2. Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either
illegally or unethically.
3. Use the property of a client or employer only in ways properly
authorized, and with the client's or employer's knowledge and
consent.
4. Ensure that any document upon which they rely has been
approved, when required, by someone authorized to approve it.
5. Keep private any confidential information gained in their
professional work, where such confidentiality is consistent with
the public interest and consistent with the law.
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 2. The client and employer (cont)

6. Identify, document, collect evidence and report to the client or

the employer promptly if, in their opinion, a project is likely to
fail, to prove too expensive, to violate intellectual property law,
or otherwise to be problematic.
7. Identify, document, and report significant issues of social
concern, of which they are aware, in software or related
documents, to the employer or the client.
8. Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform
for their primary employer.
9. 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.
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3. The product:
Software engineers shall ensure that their products
and related modifications meet the highest
professional standards possible
1.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.
2.Ensure proper and achievable goals and objectives for any project
on which they work or propose.
3.Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and
environmental issues related to work projects.
4.Ensure that they are qualified for any project on which they work
or propose to work by an appropriate combination of education
and training, and experience.
5.Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which
they work or propose to work. 7
 3. The product (cont)

6. 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.
7. Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on
which they work.
8. Ensure that specifications for software on which they work
have been well documented, satisfy the users’ requirements
and have the appropriate approvals.
9. 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.
10. Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and review of software
and related documents on which they work.
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 3. The product (cont)

11. Ensure adequate documentation, including significant

problems discovered and solutions adopted, for any project
on which they work.
12. Work to develop software and related documents that
respect the privacy of those who will be affected by that
software.
13. Be careful to use only accurate data derived by ethical and
lawful means, and use it only in ways properly authorized.
14. Maintain the integrity of data, being sensitive to outdated or
flawed occurrences.
15. Treat all forms of software maintenance with the same
professionalism as new development.
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 4. Professional judgment:
Software engineers shall maintain integrity and
independence in their professional judgment
1. Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and
maintain human values.
2. Only endorse documents either prepared under their supervision
or within their areas of competence and with which they are in
agreement.
3. Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or
related documents they are asked to evaluate.
4. Not engage in deceptive financial practices such as bribery, double
billing, or other improper financial practices.
5. Disclose to all concerned parties those conflicts of interest that
cannot reasonably be avoided or escaped.
6. 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
5. Management:
Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to
and promote an ethical approach to the management of
software development and maintenance
1.Ensure good management for any project on which they work,
including effective procedures for promotion of quality and
reduction of risk.
2.Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before
being held to them.
3.Ensure that software engineers know the employer's policies and
procedures for protecting passwords, files and information that is
confidential to the employer or confidential to others.
4.Assign work only after taking into account appropriate
contributions of education and experience tempered with a desire
to further that education and experience.
5.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
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these estimates.
 5. Management (cont)

6. Attract potential software engineers only by full and accurate

description of the conditions of employment.
7. Offer fair and just remuneration (payment).
8. Not unjustly prevent someone from taking a position for which
that person is suitably qualified.
9. Ensure that there is a fair agreement concerning ownership of any
software, processes, research, writing, or other intellectual
property to which a software engineer has contributed.
10. Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an
employer's policy or of this Code.
11. Not ask a software engineer to do anything inconsistent with this
Code.
12. Not punish anyone for expressing ethical concerns about a
project. 12
 6. The profession:
Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation
of the profession consistent with the public interest
1.Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting
ethically.
2.Promote public knowledge of software engineering.
3.Extend software engineering knowledge by appropriate
participation in professional organizations, meetings and
publications.
4.Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers
striving to follow this Code.
5.Not promote their own interest at the expense of the profession,
client or employer.
6.Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional
circumstances, such compliance is inconsistent with the public
interest. 13
 6. The profession (cont)

7. Be accurate in stating the characteristics of software on which

they work, avoiding not only false claims but also claims that might
reasonably be supposed to be speculative (notational), vacuous
(blank), deceptive, misleading, or doubtful.
8. Take responsibility for detecting, correcting, and reporting errors
in software and associated documents on which they work.
9. Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the
software engineer's commitment to this Code of ethics, and the
subsequent ramifications (consequences) of such commitment.
10.Avoid associations with businesses and organizations which are in
conflict with this code.

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 6. The profession (cont)

11. Recognize that violations of this Code are inconsistent with

being a professional software engineer.
12. Express concerns to the people involved when significant
violations of this Code are detected unless this is impossible,
counter-productive, or dangerous.
13. 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.

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 7. Colleagues:
Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive
of their colleagues

1. Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.

2. Assist colleagues in professional development.
3. Credit fully the work of others and refrain from taking undue
credit.
4. Review the work of others in an objective, candid, and properly-
documented way.
5. Give a fair hearing to the opinions, concerns, or complaints of a
colleague.
6. Assist colleagues in being fully aware of current standard work
practices including policies and procedures for protecting
passwords, files and other confidential information, and security
measures in general. 16
 7. Colleagues (cont)

7. 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.
8. In situations outside of their own areas of competence, call
upon the opinions of other professionals who have
competence in that area.

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 8. Self:
Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning
regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote
an ethical approach to the practice of the profession
1.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.
2.Improve their ability to create safe, reliable, and useful quality
software at reasonable cost and within a reasonable time.
3.Improve their ability to produce accurate, informative, and well-
written documentation.
4.Improve their understanding of the software and related documents
on which they work and of the environment in which they will be
used.
5.Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law
governing the software and related documents on which they work.
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8. Self (cont)

6. Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation,

and its application to their work.
7. Not give unfair treatment to anyone because of any
irrelevant prejudices.
8. Not influence others to undertake any action that
involves a breach of this Code.
9. Recognize that personal violations of this Code are
inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.

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