Establishing a Code of Ethics

I recently finished reading Bob Galen’s fantastic book, “Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond”. I think the book is a must read for those involved in Agile Coaching. I will likely discuss my thoughts on the book in a later post.

The reason I mention Bob’s book is because one of the concrete actions I am taking after reading the book is to formally create and share a code of ethics for how we will work with our clients at Practical Agility.

I have always striven to maintain the highest level of ethical behavior in all aspects of my life, both professional and personal, so that is nothing new. However, I have never taken the time to thoughtfully enumerate what I believe my ethical obligations are to my clients. The process of doing so was meaningful in its own right, forcing me to be explicit about courses of action and bringing clarity to those principles that are important enough to codify in writing.

Publishing the code of ethics on our website is an opportunity to practice one of the primary drivers of agile practices - transparency. Since our clients entrust us to not only deliver value to their organizations but also to be a positive catalyst with the people in their organizations, they deserve to know how we operate and what we see as our ethical obligations and responsibilities.

Sharing our code of ethics is not only the right thing to do, but it also makes a statement about what is important to us. Whatever we do when we work with our clients reflects on us as a company, as individuals, and as a profession. Our ethics serve as a guiding light to ensure we bring our best efforts and direct them in a constructive, positive, and honest manner.

You can find the Practical Agility Code of Ethics here. Please take a read and let me know what you think.