Phil Wolff discusses the ethical responsibilities of product managers, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing users and social impact over profit and partnerships. He raises complex questions regarding product harm, moral conflicts, and the need for a strong ethical framework within the profession. The document advocates for accountability and guidance for product managers to navigate these challenges.

1. Phil Wolff, @evanwolf, pevanwolf@gmail.com

4. ▪ OpenOakland tech/design volunteers
worked with the City to automate bringing
young people to summer jobs
▪ Found making it easier to apply would
bottleneck agencies, waste user time,
discourage job seekers
▪ Our team walked away

5. ▪ We acted on conscience
▪ But we were volunteers. No profit motive or
jobs to keep. No conflicts.
▪ We could have gone ahead, accepting the
harm as a cost of partnering with the City
and agencies. Partners over Users.

7. ▪ Doctors, Nurses
▪ Lawyers, Judges
▪ Police Officers
▪ Accountants
▪ Engineers

10. ▪ Should I take a paid speaking gig
▪ from this outside company
▪ when their actions harm my
customers?

11. ▪ What should I do if,
▪ when I take over a product,
▪ I discover it has Dark Patterns?

12. ▪ What should I do if my product
▪ is legal where I live
▪ but illegal in other countries?

13. ▪ What should I do when I see a product
manager behave unethically?

14. ▪ If my product brings more harm into the
world than good,
▪ what are my obligations?

15. ▪ If my product harms a few people
▪ but is of great good and value for the rest,
▪ what should I do?

16. ▪ If I have to retire my product
▪ but many people’s live depend on it,
▪ how should I approach this?

17. If my product’s customers are not its users,
▪ like a product sold to an employer
for its employees,
▪ how do I prioritize
customer needs vs. user needs?

18. Not in order (yet)…

19. ▪ Committing product managers to higher
duties than career, company, profit.

20. ▪ Help those who rely on product managers to
trust practitioners and the profession.

21. ▪ “You are the voice of the customer” conflicts
with “You are the CEO of the product.” How
do you balance those goals?

22. ▪ Offer the practitioner guidance when moral
conflicts and conflicting duties apply.

23. ▪ Help product managers understand how to
hold ourselves accountable for mistakes and
breaches of faith.

24. ▪ A well-used code of ethics defends the
profession from scallywags, rapscallions, and
other ne’er-do-wells who’s words and
behavior sully our collective reputation.

26. ▪ Are we doing “one thing” or “many things”?
▪ We’re an occupation. Are we a profession?
▪ Does our job balancing many duties make it
impossible to write an ethics code?

27. ▪ Get involved
▪ What should a Product Manager’s code of ethics
accomplish? (Quora)
▪ What should be in a Product Managers' code of
ethics? (Quora)
▪ Twitter: #prodmgmt
▪ Where you talk with other product managers.
▪ Needed: Real World Cases

28. PHIL WOLFF
pevanwolf@gmail.com
@Evanwolf
1-510-343-5664
LinkedIn