Ethics in software testing - from theory to practice

Often presentations about Ethics in software development and testing stay on a theoretical level. If one cares about his topic and wants to become an ethical software tester or developer that’s not enough. Everyone needs to prepare oneself to be able to respond to ethical dilemmas properly.

This workshop will enable participants to prepare themselves by bringing them in practical contact with real life ethical problems. The workshop will start with a short theoretical background on ethics but only as a foundation to apply on real life examples. It will start with generic ethically questionable scenarios and get specific with software development and testing specific examples. There will be practical exercises for small groups, where participants will have to discuss and come to a consensus how to deal with specific situations.

The outcome and feedback from the group exercises will be shared and reflected upon from all participants. Participants are encouraged to share examples from their working experience in anonymous written form as part of the workshop. Facilitators will incorporate these examples as part of the exercises, thus providing the persons that shared them with new perspectives.

The workshop will end with practical tips on how to develop ethical software as a team and how to detect and address ethically questionable situations.