TS+ Practice Behaviours

Commitment #3 – As tech stewards, we support each other to practice the daily behaviours that enable progress in all its forms – failed attempts, pragmatic compromise, incremental steps and of course breakthroughs.

The basic building block of tech stewardship is each of our individual day-to-day behaviours.

When enough of our individual behaviours add up, we can shift the culture of our teams and organizations.

And when enough organizations tip, we can tip larger systems like sectors and professions – making tech stewardship the new default.

In addition to continuously seeking to Advance Understanding (our own and others), and Deliberating Values, being a tech steward also means exhibiting behaviours that are:

Purposeful – Tech is not neutral. We imagine, design, and implement technology intentionally for positive impact.

Responsible – The pace of tech disruption is accelerating. We anticipate, monitor and manage the complex impacts of technology.

Inclusive – Who’s driving tech? We expand who and what is considered and involved in decision making.

Regenerative – Tech is often extractive. We proceed in a manner that cares for the environment, economy, communities, and individuals.

Strong tech stewardship practice means practicing these behaviors in an integrative manner and engaging with the inherent value tensions that result.

The last several years has seen a proliferation of tech stewardship related principles that can be useful in guiding behavior. Unfortunately, many have struggled around implementation. Here are a couple of tips for making principles useful for guiding behaviour:

Ensure that natural value tensions are not ignored.
Leverage the GUIDE Framework to ensure the principles are constructed in a manner that they are practically useful and evaluable.

For reference, here are a broad set of tech stewardship principles that the Engineering Change Lab Canada (Link To Come) developed as their current hypothesis of the behaviors that are required to ensure technology is beneficial for all.

TS+ Practice Behaviours

Commitment #3 – As tech stewards, we support each other to practice the daily behaviours that enable progress in all its forms – failed attempts, pragmatic compromise, incremental steps and of course breakthroughs.

Purposeful – Tech is not neutral. We imagine, design, and implement technology intentionally for positive impact.

Responsible – The pace of tech disruption is accelerating. We anticipate, monitor and manage the complex impacts of technology.

Inclusive – Who’s driving tech? We expand who and what is considered and involved in decision making.

Regenerative – Tech is often extractive. We proceed in a manner that cares for the environment, economy, communities, and individuals.

What do you think?

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