• Linux Administrator
• Operations Manager South West...
• Project Manager- Integration
• PROJECT MANAGER - SIX SIGMA
• Business Project Manager

Practising professionalism

Kumar Parakala, Information Age

13/06/2008 14:36:15

Have you ever had to justify why you're a member of the ACS and what value that holds for you?

As National President of the professional association for ICT practitioners, I am constantly promoting the importance of professionalism as a way of maximising quality and reducing risk.

It's a sign of an immature profession that this is the case. After all, how many doctors, lawyers or accountants do you think would have to justify their commitment to professionalism? We expect - nay, we demand that - that our doctors and lawyers are registered and licensed to operate.

And in those rare instances where one of these professionals acts in a way that harms their clients or brings their profession into disrepute, we want their licence revoked.

Of course, professions like medicine and law deal with saving lives or large sums of money - but no more, in fact, than the ICT profession. Our technology underpins life-saving equipment in hospitals and clinics, facilitates large financial transactions in real-time, keeps planes in the air and enables global communications. And that's just the start.

This is why the ACS believes that Australia's future prosperity is closely tied to ICT professionalism, which is all about delivering products and services that are trustworthy, as distinct from trusted. It's about raising the bar and valuing excellence in a way that our sector has rarely seen.

The ACS believes that ICT professionals must be responsible not only for designing and implementing quality technology solutions for business challenges, but that they must also consider the ethical, social and political implications of their work.

Whether it's protecting the public interest (and your organisation's reputation) by helping to ensure that privacy requirements are met, delivering effective governance systems, or by improving the organisation's risk profile in the context of occupational health and safety, a true professional will monitor and provide feedback on these and other issues as they arise.

One of the potential downsides of the current skill shortage is that employers will lower the bar on the skills and professionalism they seek in their staff, with obvious implications for quality and even safety in areas of high risk. If standards do fall, the potential for loss of life is far too great to allow this situation to go unchecked. As the guardian of ICT ethics and professionalism, we have a responsibility to bring this issue to the attention of those in a position to act.

In order to establish minimum professional standards for safety-critical systems, the ACS is in discussions with industry stakeholders and government policy-makers about the need for licensing and certification of practitioners working in these areas. We need our politicians, industry and the wider community to become more aware of this situation and acknowledge the need of some kind of licensing scheme as a valid risk mitigation exercise.

With ICT project failures still a common event in the corporate world, we don't want to wait for a major catastrophe before we take the necessary steps to safeguard the community by ensuring fault-free technology where it is most needed. I encourage you to do whatever you can to raise awareness of this issue and stay tuned for more developments in this space.

Professionalism as practised by the ACS means that:

» An individual's qualifications have been objectively assessed and verified;

» They are required to continually update their knowledge and are provided with appropriate opportunities to do so;

» They have access to other experts in their specialist field and can both share and acquire knowledge and access to skills through networking;

» Ethical, social and legal implications of technology are actively considered when designing and applying technology systems and processes;

» Members recognise the value of contributing to their profession and developing young professionals through mentoring; and

» They are subject to strict disciplinary measures if they perform unethically or otherwise unprofessionally.