How to reduce unconscious bias in software development
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” — Arleen Lorrance
There is no other way to say it; we live in an imperfect world. While nothing changes overnight, I believe we all have a moral obligation to confront biases that we observe in our own life. Since I spend the majority of my time working with engineers, designers, and other product people to develop software, this is where I’m choosing to start.
Bias is generally segment bias into two categories, conscious and unconscious. For conscious biases, we often create laws and commissions to offer a form of protection for people and their rights. For example, the United States passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which established the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This act now affords protections against discrimination based on:
race, color, religion, sex (pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military status
You often see these characteristics highlighted as protected in the subtext of job applications.
“We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.”
Equal employer opportunities (EEO) statements are an excellent first step, but most companies leave a lot to be desired when crafting a personalized message to potential candidates. For more on the topic, I recommend checking out the research of Textio, an augmented writing platform that helps companies reduce bias in their copy.
Personal experience
As a military veteran of the U.S. Army, I didn’t understand why identifying as a veteran was a separate part of my job applications. I wasn’t hiding my military service (it was on my resume), but it was the accomplishments I achieved during my time in service, which were relevant, not the designation itself.
While I love my co-workers, it took some time in my role to transition from Matt, the military veteran who is a product manager to Matt, the product manager, who is an army veteran. It may seem like a subtle shift, but it made a big difference in my daily interactions. I had to fight against military veteran stereotypes actively:
Positive military veteran stereotypes expressed to me
- excellent at supply chain operations (not accurate)
- experienced at people management (accurate)
- capable of taking and giving orders (accurate)
Negative military veteran stereotypes expressed to me
- inability to think outside of the box; not creative (not accurate)
- not effective in an informal authority environment (not accurate)
I don’t blame anyone, but it was apparent (to me) that they held an unconscious bias around what it means to be a military veteran. While minor in comparison to other biases I’ve observed others endure, my experiences make me sensitive to others and compel me to do more to ensure we are all working towards a more inclusive world.
Opportunities for improvement
Below is a list of terms that are often used in software development practices. I encourage you to see where these terms are used in your daily practice and replace them with the alternatives. Do you know of more words that I should add to this list? Feel free to respond in the comments or send me a message, and I’d be happy to add to this list.
Blacklist / Whitelist
Purpose: used to discuss items that are approved or denied; good or bad.
Issue: carries stigma and reinforces racial stereotyping. PC Mag.
Alternatives: AllowList / DenyList, BlockList / SafeList, InclusionList / ExclusionList, Approved / Unapproved. Clockwork.
Brown bags
Purpose: used to gather a group of individuals together to discuss a particular topic in-depth.
Issue: the Brown Paper Bag Test in African-American oral history was a form of racial discrimination practiced within the African-American community by comparing an individual’s skin tone to the color of a brown paper bag. The test was allegedly used as a way to determine whether or not an individual could have certain privileges; only those with a skin color that matched or was lighter than a brown paper bag were allowed admission or membership privileges. Although it was practiced within the community, those allowed into white spaces also passed this test. Ferris State University, Seattle PI.
Alternatives: Lunch and Learns, Tech Talks, Learning Sessions, Office Hours, Info Session
Redlines / Redlining
Purpose: used to refer to design specifications delivered from designers to developers.
Issue: while at first glance it describes the “red lines” commonly used in those types of deliverables, the term “redlining” is rooted in discriminatory practices of denying affordable services based on geographical locations typically home to marginalized populations. Washington Post, Wikipedia.
Alternatives: Review, Correct, Check, Verify, Validate, Make notes, Markup, Specs, Design Specifications, Revisions, New version
Black / White / Grey Days
Purpose: used to describe days when software deployments can happen. Black days are non-deployment days, grey days require approval, and white days are deployment days without restriction.
Issue: in general terms, Black day is a day on which something terrible has happened, or a day of an unfortunate incident, or a day of grieve or a day when something disastrous happens to someone. The Idioms.
Alternatives: Blocked, Restricted, Advisory, Open
Broken Windows
Purpose: used to call out bugs in a particular customer experience.
Issue: the term is rooted in racist policing practices and crime theory, and has resulted in over-policing in marginalized communities. NPR.
Alternatives: Paper cuts, Trade-offs, Rough edges
Nude or flesh-tone
Purpose: use to refer to a color that’s close to beige.
Issue: “nude or flesh-tone” can be different colors depending on the skin tone of a person.
Alternatives: the actual color being used: beige, black, brown, pink
Powwow or Circle the Wagons
Purpose: used for having a meeting, get together, or to regroup.
Issue: circle the Wagons has an association of negative interactions of indigenous culture with white settlers. Indian Country Today, Indigenous Corporate Training Inc
Alternatives: Huddle, Stand up, Discussion, Regroup
Master / Slave
Purpose: in computer networking, master/slave is a model for a communication protocol in which one device or process (known as the master) controls one or more other devices or processes (known as slaves).
Issue: invokes images of slavery and racist social structures. Vice, PC Mag, Chromium.
Alternatives: Primary/Replica, Central/ Peripheral, Active/Passive, Primary/Secondary, Coordinator/Worker, Leader/Follower
Grandfathered
Purpose: used to describe exempting long-time customers or users from new requirements.
Issue: the term arose from the term grandfather clause,” which refers to voting provisions that disenfranchised African-American voters in the U.S. South. Medium Nancy Riley.
Alternatives: Exempt, Legacy
Open the Kimono
Purpose: used to disclose information about the inner workings of something.
Issue: the phrase has both sexist and racist overtones. NPR.
Alternatives: Open the books, Full disclosure
Gypped
Purpose: used to describe a time when someone has been defrauded, swindled, or cheated.
Issue: Offensive to those of Romani descent (also known as “gypsies). NPR.
Alternatives: Defraud, Swindle, Cheat
Cakewalk
Purpose: used to talk about something being easy.
Issue: historically, the term “cakewalk” comes from a dance developed on plantations by African American slaves. It was performed for a prize (a cake) and was often done in a way that mocked the slave owners — it was then used later in minstrel shows done in blackface. The phrases “takes the cake” and “piece of cake” were developed later but are documented as deriving from the original term and context of the Cake Walk and take on the same meaning.
Alternatives: Easy, Simple, Trivial
Tribe
Purpose: a term or phrase to indicate a community or group of people with whom one shares strong common interests or beliefs.
Issue: it is strongly associated with past attitudes of white colonialists toward so-called primitive or uncivilized peoples living in remote, undeveloped places. Lexico.
Alternatives: Community, People, Flock, Family, Club, Team, Group
Man-hours
Purpose: used to describe the amount of time it takes to accomplish a task.
Issue: it is unnecessarily assigning gender to a non-gendered time unit.
Alternatives: Hours of effort, Labor, Work
Oriental
Purpose: used to describe people of Asian descent.
Issue: the term “Oriental” is associated with a period when Asians had a subordinate status and were excluded from the U.S. Collegian, NPR.
Alternatives: Asian
Spirit Animal
Purpose: used to describe something or someone inspirational.
Issue: refers to a specific cultural practice within multiple Indigenous tribes in North America. World Religious News, Vice.
Alternatives: muse | inspiration
Guys
Purpose: used to refer to a group of people.
Issue: unnecessarily assigning gender to a group. Dictionary.com, Hot Jar.
Alternatives: Y’all, Folks, You all, Team
If you are still looking to learn more, I will encourage you to visit the websites of Self-defined, Google, Clockwork, Python, and Ruby on Rails. They are beginning to remove this type of language from their software development practices. There is also much discussion around Github, who is replacing master and slave with more inclusive terms. As the world’s leading software development platform, any change to Github terminology will have a lasting and outsized impact on the development community.
