Untested System - What Are the Ethical Issues and Their Implications?

What are the ethical issues and their implications?

Legal Liability

Should an untested system go live, the development company may be found legally liable for losses sustained by the client caused by issues in the system.

Possibility of legal recourse by the client for not meeting contractual obligations if the release of the system is delayed until testing can be complete.

Third parties affected by either an untested or late delivered system may also have legal recourse against the development company.

Security

An untested system may have security issues which would otherwise have been discovered during the testing phase. Depending on system use, security issues have the potential to lead to further ethical and legal issues. For example, should a security issue lead to unauthorized access to customer data, issues such as anonymity, confidentiality, and privacy may arise.

Moral Responsibility

The CEO, Manager, Developer and Tester have moral responsibilities to meet their commitments. Ultimately that is to deliver a system which is fit for purpose as promised. Additionally, the parties have a moral responsibility to pass on information which may affect the others in the execution of their responsibilities. For example, it is incumbent on the developer to inform the manager that an untested system is incomplete and potentially unfit for use.

What can be done about it?

In light of the above ethical issues, our actors are ultimately faced with an ethical dilemma. Either release an untested system in order to meet the deadlines; or delay the release of the system so that testing can take place.

In order for this ethical dilemma to have been avoided, a clear framework or code of practice/ethic