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Ethics

Preparing for a service assessment

Learn how to prepare for service assessments at different phases of delivery.

Your team should consider the ethical impact of your service during each phase of its delivery — discovery, alpha, beta and live.

As part of your service assessment, you’ll be expected to show how you’ve considered this. This guidance gives information on how to prepare for each phase.

If you’re not doing a service assessment, you should still consider our ethical principles and explore the ethics of your service.

Discovery

During discovery, you’ll spend time understanding your users. Your team should consider whether anyone could be harmed (physically, mentally, or financially) or excluded by your service.

How to prepare for your assessment

To explore the ethical impact of your service, you should do one or both of these:

During your assessment

You assessor will need to see the output of your preparation.

You’ll also need to use it to answer these questions to show that you’ve understood the social impact of your proposed service:

  • who could be accidentally excluded by using your service?
  • does your service have vulnerable users and how might you meet their needs?

Alpha

During alpha, you’ll start to build prototypes to test your riskiest assumptions.

Your team should consider whether anyone could be harmed (physically, mentally, or financially) as a direct or indirect consequence of your service.

How to prepare for your assessment

You should do an ethics review. You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.

You should also review what you did in discovery to check you’ve addressed any issues which were flagged.

During your assessment

You assessor will need to see your ethics review.

You’ll also be asked what your biggest ethical risks are. Your review will help you answer this.

Private beta

How to prepare for your assessment

You should assess the ethics review you did in alpha based on the ideas you’ve taken forward into private beta. Think about:

  • anything new you may now need to consider
  • if anything is less risky now or no longer an ethical issue

If your team did not do an ethics review during alpha, you should do one now. You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.

During your assessment

Your assessor will need to see your ethics review.

You’ll also need to show that your service does not harm people or society. Your review will help you with this.

Public beta and live

You should assess the ethics review you did in private beta based on how your service has since evolved. Think about:

  • anything new you may now need to consider
  • if anything is less risky now or no longer an ethical issue

If your team did not do an ethics review during private beta, you should do one now. You can then add actions to your backlog or work on them immediately.