Personal guide

The personal guide is designed to help you evaluate your current circumstances, consider situations that may come up for you and how you will handle them, and make yourself accountable to others.

1. Copy the questions below into a text editor on your computer or the web. For a web editor, we recommend the Riseup.net Etherpad, since they do not store IP addresses, require https, and destroy pads after 30 days of inactivity.
2. Answer the questions in the assessment, possible outcomes, and planning sections.
3. Print your guide so trusted colleagues can sign the last section (“Ask colleagues to hold you accountable”).

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Fill this out for yourself. Since some answers may contain private or sensitive information, do not share them if you’re not comfortable doing so.

Assess your situation

• What do you currently work on, and in what capacity? List your position/title, projects, and areas of responsibility.
• What decisions are you responsible for or do you influence? (Technical decisions, legal or policy decisions, personnel decisions (hiring, firing, and performance review), financial decisions)
• What motivations and incentives influence your work and may factor into (or limit) the actions you decide to take? (Interesting problems or projects, opportunity to work with particular people or technologies, promotions, raises, bonuses, prestige)
• What practical considerations will you need to take into account when deciding what actions to take? (Financial responsibilities, health insurance coverage, career mobility, ability to relocate)
• Does your profession have an ethical creed, oath, or pledge? Do you adhere to it?

Imagine possible outcomes

• What potentially harmful work might you be responsible for (or are you already responsible for), given your role, work, and areas of influence or decision-making?
• How might you be motivated, incentivized, pressured, or threatened to do this work?

Make a plan

For each scenario below, write down what actions you will take and who will hold you to them.

• Asked to continue working on an existing potentially harmful thing
• Asked to start working on a potentially harmful thing
• Asked to stop taking actions that are protective or helpful (or that mitigate harm)
• Realized in retrospect that some actions you’ve been taking are potentially harmful
• If you see coworkers violating these boundaries, what actions will you take and when? How will you have that difficult conversation with them?

Ask coworkers to hold you accountable

Ask trusted people from your organization to hold you accountable to your plan. If you have more than signatory (recommended), copy the section below.

• Name:
• Warning signs they should look for:
• Actions they should take:
• Their signature: