As developers we are the ones who build the software that affects the world, and ultimately management can only tell us to build it. They can't will it into existence. The software that exists only exists by the agreement of the engineers to build it. This means both that we have a moral obligation to the people we affect by what we build and that we have collective power to refuse to build it. There can be no profits for the boss without the work of the engineer, and we should use that fact as leverage to bury any proposal that would require us to do harm to our users. Have courage, link arms, and refuse.
As developers we are the ones who build the software that affects the world, and ultimately management can only tell us to build it. They can't will it into existence. The software that exists only exists by the agreement of the engineers to build it. This means both that we have a moral obligation to the people we affect by what we build and that we have collective power to refuse to build it. There can be no profits for the boss without the work of the engineer, and we should use that fact as leverage to bury any proposal that would require us to do harm to our users. Have courage, link arms, and refuse.
Couldn't agree more. I find it unbelievable to see people hiding behind ideas such as:
We can do better