Book notes: Ruined By Design

Ruined By Design is an excellent design ethics and activism book by Mike Monteiro. These are my notes from it.

I’ve bolded and added a “★” to my favourite little bits below.

Quick list of just the star-bolded bits

We need to measure impact, not just profit.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ― Upton Sinclair
The current system rewards growth, however it comes.
Free speech means amplifying those who have been silenced, not protecting the silencers.
We look out for the people not in the room.
Our work should be evaluated by how well it solves the problem, without creating new ones.
Societies are made of agreements to follow laws more than laws.
Welcome, encourage, criticism to create better work.
It's only inclusion from the white boys side of the room. For everyone else, it's exclusion.

Big picture

By our action or inaction, the world behaves as it has been designed to.
Designing badly can mean problems are in the foundation, and only a tear-down will fix them.
The world isn’t changed by special people, it’s changed by ordinary people taking a stand.
Startups go from “build a business” to “aim for liquidation”. Investors push for growth, instead of quality. They only care about the short-term, until liquidation.

Bad things happen when we prioritise “engagement” or money above all.
★ We need to measure impact, not just profit.
Excessive speed tends to blur our purpose, make us miss problems.
- Slowing down to think about impact is a feature, not a bug.
People don’t see the things they’re rewarded for as problems to fix.
★ “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ― Upton Sinclair
★ The current system rewards growth, however it comes.
When making money is the most important other things are secondary by definition.

Do the right thing, even / especially in environments designed to make it easier to do the wrong thing.
The exchange of cash for services does not supersede ethics.
Something design to harm is not well-designed.
★ Free speech means amplifying those who have been silenced, not protecting the silencers.
“The algorithm” is good for a lack of accountability. Good leaders should have their fingerprints all over difficult decisions.
Ethical work is more important than ethical extra-curriculars.
We need our best people where our biggest problems are.
We are responsible for what we put in the world.

We owe people our advice as well as our labour.
★ We look out for the people not in the room.
People hire us to do a service, but they’re not hiring a servant.
Good work is about craft and responsibility.
★ Our work should be evaluated by how well it solves the problem, without creating new ones.

Skilled professionals get licensed. The license gets taken away when necessary.
Oaths don’t stop unethical behaviour, but they do stop people claiming ignorance.
The code applies wherever we work.
Plenty of legal activities are unethical.
- Sometimes the law back us up, sometimes it’s slow to catch up.
★ Societies are made of agreements to follow laws more than laws.
- Laws are top-down (so they have no transformative power), agreements are bottom-up.

★ Welcome, encourage, criticism to create better work.
Be aware of our biases and welcome having them checked.
Asking why, saying no, are design skills.
We design things that fit our experiences.
- We can only ask questions we think to ask.

Involve our audience more to solve the problem more thoroughly.
Edge cases imply there are people whose problems aren’t worth solving.
- They are humans, we owe them our best work.
Use John Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance.
“Show me the data!”? Just look around us at the current garbage fire!

Standing up for the right thing might be the spark that ignites others.
Be the one that motivates those around you to do their best.
Speak up to show our peers what’s not okay.
★ It’s only inclusion from the white boys side of the room. For everyone else, it’s exclusion.
Speaking up is part of the job.