Code of Professional Conduct for Accredited UX Professionals
(based on the current version of the GermanUPA Code of Professional Conduct, published by the EthiX working group)
The Code of Professional Conduct [CoC] for accredited UX professionals is the foundation of the ux professionals’ work, the commitment to responsibility towards customers, employers, colleagues and society.
The CoC is intended to guide members in carrying out their professional responsibilities and to express the basic principles of ethical and professional behaviour.
The CoC requires accredited UX professionals to assess the risks and benefits of their actions for all stakeholders and to ensure that these actions meet the highest ethical and professional standards. This CoC recognises the economic, social and cultural context and constraints in which UX/Usability professionals operate. However, it is intended to help improve these conditions and to contribute to the exchange between professionals and other market participants.
The Code of Professional Conduct for accredited UX professionals is supervised by the executive committee of the Association for the International Accreditation of UX Professionals and Quality Assurance in the Professional Field of UX, Usability and Human-centered Design (IAPUX) in liaison with the EthiX working group of GermanUPA.
Introduction
This CoC is intended to cover situations with which user experience (UX) professionals are often confronted.
The accreditation as UX professional in the international accreditation program for UX professionals includes the acceptance of this CoC.
Ethical principles
- We put people at the centre of our work
Professional action is based on the approach, principles and recommendations of human-centred design, i.e. the approach to the design and development of systems that aims to make interactive systems more fit for use by focusing on the use of the system and applying knowledge and techniques from the fields of occupational science/ergonomics and usability.
- We inform third parties about our work, decisions, the reasons behind them and possible consequences
Professionals work transparently and document methods, results and decisions with a willingness to communicate them clearly, concisely, in a timely way, honestly and completely so that all relevant stakeholders can have access to this information. Professionals ensure the comprehensibility and usefulness of their work results for their customers. They make all collected and processed data available as far as possible without censoring (as far as legally possible), manipulating or falsifying it.
- We act in the best interest of people in their role as a person interacting with a system, product, process or service
Professionals work on it and take responsibility for ensuring that their work results can maximise the well-being and safety of all those affected. To do this, they apply their knowledge, skills and abilities, find compromises and prove their work by using established, valid methods and procedures. This happens in the most diverse phases of a life cycle of interactive systems and thus represents an essential bridge between users and responsible stakeholders of an organisation.
- We are honest with everyone
Professionals can be accountable for their qualifications, skills, knowledge, work, methods, results and decisions. They can have them subjected to an appropriate review and ensure that all relevant data is known.
- We act in such a way that there is no foreseeable damage caused by the product, system or service being designed
Professionals actively work to ensure that interactive systems, products, processes and/or services do not cause harm or damage to the health and well-being of people who interact with them, as far as is within the professional’s control or as far as is directly foreseeable by the professional. Possible risks that can lead to harm for users (directly or indirectly) should be identified and addressed.
- We act in such a way that, wherever possible, added value is created
Professionals actively work to achieve a benefit, value or other positive effects for specific users in a specific context of use through an interactive system, product, process and/or service.
- We act in such a way that, wherever possible, sustainability can be ensured
Professionals take into account the environmental, social and economic aspects of designing interactive systems, products, processes and/or services to meet identified needs and requirements without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and requirements. This also applies to the use of resources in professionals’ activities and work results.
- We act with professional integrity
Professionals make decisions (e.g. when selecting the appropriate methods) on the basis of facts, knowledge and available information (including standards, the current state of the art and methodology). They will not be misled into making different decisions by third parties, undue influences or unsubstantiated data. Professionals make such influences transparent and actively work against them. They regularly attend further training courses and actively seek exchanges with other professionals.
- We act with respect
Professionals respect other professions and experts in their work environment and appreciate the corresponding work results. They do not place their professionalism above other roles within the human-centred approach, but see themselves as equal participants in the holistic approach of human-centred design.
- We avoid conflicts of interest between projects
Professionals ensure that they do not work on projects that are in direct competition with each other at the same time or within a short period of time. Professionals who have proprietary knowledge must ensure that this knowledge is not made available to other competing projects. If there is a possibility of a conflict of interest, professionals make this transparent and actively address it.
- We act in such a way that possible conflicts of interest within projects can lead to a consensus
Professionals ensure that possible conflicts within a project due to different stakeholder needs and requirements and human-centred design outcomes can be addressed and transformed into compromises. Stakeholders can usually better understand results and decisions if data and facts are presented transparently as such.
- We respect privacy, confidentiality and anonymity
Professionals respect the personal dignity, privacy and confidentiality of people they work with in the context of their various roles and activities in the field of human-centred design. Only the data essential for the process and/or the evaluation are documented.
