In this handbook you will find useful information that will help you get started and guide you during your time with us. Please read this information carefully, and don’t hesitate to ask if anything is unclear! 
Where, when and how we work - the ultimate getting started guide!
- Our offices
- Office Guidelines
- Working from home
- Working hours
- What to work on
- Meeting customers
- How we work
- Servant Leadership
- Failures
- Courses
- Emerging ideas
- Impact Development
- Benefit Projects - for people, community and land
- Taking care of the environment
- Taking care of people (that's you)
- Taking care of the community
Salaries, benefits and leave - here’s what we have to offer
- General responsibilities and policies
- Professional responsibilities
- Specific responsibilities of the IT professional
- Compliance with the Code
As a Benefit Corporation the company intends to pursue the principles of equality, fraternity and legality, in order to favour an ecosystem between nature, humans (especially in the personal sphere), shareholders, stakeholders and, more generally, the local community and all the parts that are influenced by the company’s activities in any way. Special attention is given to the production of benefit for the local agricultural community of Valtellina, to favour the evolution of the primary sector as an advantage for society.
In virtue of the principles of benefit, the company’s objectives include the following activities: support the organizations that operate in the field of technology, science, industry, economics and finance and aid them in the adoption and proficuous use of innovative technologies and methodologies in the field of software and, more generally, of Information Technology and organization.
Mondora, founded in 2002, is a software and advisory company specialising in technology governance and providing innovative software solutions, development, design, and technical training to a range of large organizations, across multiple industries. Mondora supports customers with the design, implementation, and operation of a variety of IT environments and the associated teams and governance structures, with a strong focus on the implementation and management of emerging technological paradigms, such as cloud computing, Agile Methodologies, and DevOps. Over the years mondora has developed significant experience assessing and evolving complex architectures, and driving IT and business alignment. The mondora team is dedicated to uncovering ideas through creativity — in both thinking and customer oriented implementation. The company’s processes and services are supported by an intense global search for idiosyncratic opportunities on Cloud and Agile software development. mondora is a mix up of Software Architects, Visionary People, DevOps Consultants and Agilists who together create "the perfect" team for every occasion.
Our head office is located in Milan, Via Uberto Visconti di Modrone 33. However, this is only for legal purposes and no one works here. Our main working office is in Berbenno di Valtellina, Via Europa 1250. Here we have a large open space area with plenty of tables, three meeting rooms, a mindfulness room and a fully equipped kitchen.
We have a free seating policy, so every day when you arrive you can decide where to sit and work. There are “normal” desks, high desks, chairs, stools, gym balls and couches to choose from. Take your pick! If you have a group call or a meeting, please use the meeting rooms so as not to disturb colleagues working on different projects from yours.
The kitchen is for everyone to use, so you can make your own lunch there if you want. In the cupboards and fridge (that are already in place) you will find tea, coffee, crackers, fruit, beer, etc. These are for everyone, just take what you want when you want it. If you finish something, make sure you replace it! As we are a B Corporation (more about that later) we mostly consume organic food and drink from the local health stores. We suggest to all new employees to follow this healthy example. Oh, and bring your own tea mug (although we have some for guests too).
Being a B corp, we promote healthy and environmentally friendly commuting alternatives. Do you live relatively close to the office? Use our programme cycle2work Do any of your colleagues live close to you? Ask about car-pooling opportunities! Not everyone can follow these guidelines, but if you have the possibility you will gain in health and contribute to making the planet a better place. More about this in the next section of this handbook.
As well as the office, we have other places where we occasionally work from. Some days we organize an “out of office day” where we work from a mountain refuge or other place. We also have “affiliate” offices, where colleagues have created an office space in their own home, and welcome others to share this space and work together.
Our offices are not a place where you come in, sit down, work and go home. They are a place in which to meet people, interact, brainstorm and cocreate. We have whiteboards which we encourage you to use with your team, or with other teams, every week. We would like everyone to come into the office at least a couple of times per week where possible, so that you can share your ideas with your colleagues and learn something new every day.
Our offices are a place in which we create benefit for others around us, and receive benefit from them. They are a place in which to engage in meaningful conversations and debates, work together on specific tasks, master new skills and teach something to others.
The open space setting is a conscious choice made to promote and encourage collaboration and cocreation. Please remember to respect your colleagues at all times when working in this setting. If you have a call or a meeting, use the meeting rooms. If you want to ask someone a question, walk to their desk and talk to them, don't shout across the room. Keep your voice low when collaborating with others and remember to schedule a time for brainstorming or knowledge sharing so everyone who wishes can participate.
Here at mondora we give you the opportunity to work from home. Some of our colleagues live very far from the office, and so work from home most days. Others normally come to the office, but work from home some days too. The trick is to balance office/home work correctly. We prefer that new employees work from the office every day for as long as they require help and assistance from others. If this is your first job, you are an apprentice, or are still learning about IT, you should be in the office as much as possible, so you can learn more easily from your colleagues. Once you have the necessary skills to work alone, you are free to work from whichever location you wish. Do keep in mind that the office is not just a work space, but also a place in which people meet, interact, share ideas and have fun… so make sure you don’t miss out on all that’s happening here! We currently have employees spread over various Italian cities, as well as Switzerland, Lithuania and Japan. In order to keep in contact and communicate effectively, we use a set of tools, such as Slack, Google Hangouts, Whatsapp and the seasoned email. You will learn more about how we use these tools during your first weeks with us. Communication is key! Last but not least...working from home is fine, but remember to physically turn up (on time!) for customer meetings!
Office hours are very flexible. Most of us start at about 9 am and leave at 6 pm, but it’s really up to you, as long as you are on time for meetings and the rest of the team agrees to your working hours. On average, you should work 40 hours a week. How you spread these hours over the week is up to you and your team. You are required to be present at customer meetings and team meetings. These meetings usually take place at the customer’s office, so be prepared to travel.
When you start working in mondora, you will notice that no one comes along and tells you “today you will be doing this”. You get your mac, you sit down, and you wonder what to do next. Once again, communication is key here. Ask your colleagues what projects they are working on and where help is most needed. Take a look at the current projects and ask to join the one that most interests you. Sometimes you will be asked to join a specific project, but other times it really is up to you.
Whenever there is a new project, this will be published on #openallocation channel on Slack. Here you can register your interest for the project and ask to be part of the team if you wish. Keep in mind that most people in mondora work on at least two projects simultaneously (often a main project and one or two side projects), so if something interests you, don’t hold back just because you are already working on something else. If you have a few hours to dedicate to something new, go for it! Once you are part of a team and working on a project, you can stay on that project for as long as you like. If the project is very long, and you feel you need a change at some point, you can leave and jump into a new project, provided someone else takes your place, and you discuss the situation with your team first. Project rotation is valued within mondora because it enables you to try out new things and gain new skills on different projects. You will then be able to return to your original project (if you wish) with a fresh view and a greater knowledge base.
Some of the projects we work on in mondora are opensource, and you can take a single story and implement it in the same way you do for the community. We encourage our colleagues to keep their github account alive and full.
An important part of our work here in mondora is meeting, and working directly with, our customers. As we work in sprints or features, and the customer is always the Product Owner of the project we are working on, we work together regularly. This means that at least once every two weeks we travel to the customer’s office and work from there. Customers are spread all over Italy, so be prepared to travel and be on time. We always prefer face to face meetings over video conferences. It is a good idea to agree on any issues about the project within the team before meeting the customer. This way, the meeting will run smoothly and the discussion will be meaningful. Internal arguing in front of the customer is not professional and will not be tolerated. Also, be prepared to run a demo for the customer, and make sure everything is working well beforehand.
mondora is a company with a flat structure. This means that everyone is on the same level, even the CEO and the BOD, and that you take responsibility for your own work and the part you play in the company. There are no managers, only team players. You can talk to the CEO directly, and you can even disagree with him (sometimes!). You agree on work with your team, you make autonomous decisions and you consult your colleagues for complex issues.
Our main communication tools are:
- Slack - for team collaboration, quick decisions and general information. Some workspaces and channels are shared with customers. Browse all channels and join the ones that interest you.
- Loomio - for important decision making. Here you can start a discussion, add your point of view to a discussion thread, cast a vote, start a poll, etc. Keep track of Loomio activity in the #decisions channel on Slack.
- Officevibe - for anonymous opinions and feedback. If you use this tool regularly you will be made admin and can reply to other people's feedback. Keep track of feedback through the #feedback channel on Slack.
- Email - for company wide announcements. We prefer Slack for most team and customer communications.
In addition we have a WhatsApp group for immediate discussions and random things.
Most work within mondora is done in teams. Teams work together to create solutions and solve issues. Within a team, junior members can learn from more senior ones. Often team members work in pairs, either in the office or remotely. This is a great way for people to acquire new skills and see how others work. As mentioned previously, teams are not fixed for the whole duration of a project. Team rotation is encouraged and all players are expected to take part in different projects and learn to use various technologies during their time in mondora.
Everyone in mondora uses Scrum, Kanban, DDD and embraces Agile methodologies. We work in sprints of two weeks each, we deliver something useful to the customer right from the start, every two weeks. We have sprint planning/review meetings and Daily Scrum meetings. We help customers identify the issues they need to solve and provide an Empathy Map, Value Proposition Canvas and a Business Model Canvas to them. We then help them reach understanding of the Minimum Viable Product required, and work towards reaching this goal first. If you are not familiar with this, it is a good idea to read something about these work methods. Why not start with this list of useful books?
Every third Friday of the month we have a Servant Leadership meeting. The meeting is open to everyone and people who are interested take in turns participating. The aim of Servant Leadership meetings is to analyse the company ecosystem and spot any issues that could lead to or be the cause of problems, and find solutions to these. For example, if a particular problem is caused by lack of skills training, the group can suggest and organise a training course for the team. These meetings are useful in analysing the company's whole ecosystem and understanding the cause and effect of activities and issues, instead of blaming individuals when things go wrong.
At mondora it’s ok to fail: we believe people don’t learn from their success, but from their failures. In fact, we even celebrate failures and have a party occasionally. So don’t be afraid to try something and fail.
In mondora we believe that all employees should have the possibility of continuing their professional development and acquiring new skills and qualifications during their time with us. We therefore encourage, and offer, various courses. Internal courses are taught by a colleague and can be about learning to use a new technology, or a new work method. These courses run whenever there is a need/request for them. So if you’re interested in learning something specific, just ask. There is also an internal English course available.
Emerging ideas are fully supported and are the future for the company business. If you have an idea, please share it with your colleagues and start working on it.
Now that you’ve read all about our company purpose, mission and values, and know a bit more about how mondora is organised and functions, you may be asking yourself how these things all fit together. How do we take care of people, of the local community, and of the land in day-by-day activities whilst also building great software and engaging with our customers? Here’s how it all works, and how you can take part in the benefit creating activities that define mondora as a New Normal company!
We create impact with our every action within the company. As part of a system, we all agree to take care of all the chances we have to build positive impact. We use the Slack channel #insights to share any interesting opportunities that may arise in which we believe there is the possibility of creating positive impact. Here you can suggest opportunities that you would like the company to follow up and that can be useful for our stakeholders. We have colleagues working specifically as Impact Developers and who are willing to go further (for the world) with the insight.
HireBitto is a project which benefits local farmers and cheesemakers who choose to work with traditional methods, without the use of chemicals or industrial machinery. For every new employee, the company buys a wheel of Storico Ribelle cheese. The cheese is decorated with blueberry ink and kept in the casèra for three years. After this period, it is auctioned and the earnings are reinvested in the community. The cheese is paid for by mondora, but it belongs to the community. The employee is responsible for this benefit creation process. HireBitto is essentially an interdependence agreement between mondora, you (the employee) and the local community - so you can start creating benefit with the company from day one!
Cycle2Work.io is a project that lets you get paid for commuting to work, whilst safeguarding the environment. It’s connected to the app Strava, where you can join the :m team and earn € 0.20/km for cycling rather than driving to the office, and save an average of 4.32 kg of CO2 each day.
Two of mondora’s team players are farmers who work the land locally and grow vegetables, cereals, fruits and make honey. This produce is freely available for all employees who come to the office, so that people can enjoy healthy, organic and local food. You will find this food in the office kitchen and are welcome to eat what you want!
Share our Break is a small project that was born to help local farmers promote and sell their products through our network. We start by sending a free “break” to our customers, so that they can share the delicious organic food we have in the office with us, and then we ask them to order more “breaks” and share them with their customers. At the moment we are promoting three local biodynamic farmers.
mondora has a policy whereby for every 20 employees, the company hires a farmer to work the land and grow organic produce. There is a clause in all work contracts from 2017 onwards that states the joint responsibility of the company and the employee to ensure that this policy is upheld. We hire farmers because we believe their work is extremely important: without farming we would not be able to nourish ourselves, live a healthy life and get our work done!
Wherever you choose to work from, it is important that you practice environmental stewardship. In the office we always recycle paper, plastic, glass and compost. Our offices are cleaned with non-toxic products and our whiteboard pens are water based. We are a paper free office, so we have no printers. We encourage everyone to follow these practices in their own home too. Here is a list of preferred vendors for any office supplies you may need. For tips and ideas on how to be more eco-friendly check out our Pinterest board “Green Office Ideas”. As for disposal of electronic equipment, all equipment is to be returned to the vendor who is authorized to dispose of it in accordance with the law. You are not to dispose of electronic equipment by yourself.
We try to limit corporate travel by choosing video conferencing whenever possible. However, sometimes it is necessary to travel and meet people in person. When travelling we all (starting with the CEOs!) prefer economy class for trains and flights, and Airbnb apartments or small family run hotels for overnight accomodation. This is because we like to help the local economy, wherever we are staying.
When commuting to and from the office, please be mindful of the environment. If you like cycling you can join Cycle2Work and earn € 0.20/km for your commutes. If you wish to travel by car, ask your colleagues who is passing by and share the trip. Public transport options are also available, although they are not very convenient at our current location and you may need to arrange to be picked up at the train station.
Openness is one of our core values; we believe that we can be open with our colleagues and share almost anything. Ask me anything is a moment in which your colleagues can ask you any question. There is a slack channel #ama in which you can post your questions (also anonymously) and you or your colleagues can choose to answer the questions. You can host an AMA or organize it whenever you like!
If you are experiencing a period of stress, or would just like to try something different once in a while, you have the possibility to join the mondora farmers for a day or more of work in the fields. Work is seasonal and varied, and can also be a great opportunity to learn something new! Just ask your farmer colleagues what they need help with - and don’t forget to notify your team that you will be offline for a while. Happy farming!
In mondora we use English a lot and we wish for everyone to have a good level of this language. You can take part in English lessons for free during working hours, with a qualified mothertongue teacher. Our English classes are structured so that you can do work whenever you want and have it reviewed, organise a conversation class when it suits you and take part remotely too. Check out the English for Smartworkers presentation for more info.
The office is a great place to work from, but occasionally we get together and work from somewhere else. Our Out of Office days usually include “ski thursdays” where we work from a mountain refuge on the ski slopes in winter. When working out of office we try to combine the day with an activity we can do together, such as skiing or climbing. Anyone can organise an out of office day, all you need to do is find a nice location with wifi available.
We use Officevibe to measure employee happiness and satisfaction at work. Through this platform you can express your opinion and leave anonymous feedback. Everyone who actively participates in Officevibe surveys is made admin and can reply to feedback, so that we all help each other in solving problems and issues as they arise.
We believe that we are part of a system and, when it is required, people inside the company help each other: we believe that we are all interconnected. If you think that you could help out a teammate, you can send them a message in any form declaring that you wish help and explaining how this will make both of you improve. Don't forget to declare your commitment in a set timeframe.
mondora encourages volunteering and offers paid time off for such activities upon request. There is no set limit to the hours you can use for volunteering projects: depending on the type of work you can take 20 hours or more per year as needed. Occasionally there will also be the chance to volunteer for one of the company’s Benefit Projects. If you do any volunteering during weekends or evenings, please inform the company. We may be able to contribute in some way, such as matching your volunteering days with extra paid days off work for this activity.
mondora has a strong focus on creating positive impact for the local community. As a company we have various active “benefit projects”, but we are also part of a larger network of companies that can create more benefit when they work together. For this reason we always suggest an “interdependence agreement” with our customers: we offer a discount in exchange for time and effort on a joint project that can create a positive impact. Similar agreements are suggested with main suppliers too. Most customers and suppliers agree to this interdependence clause and we work on joint projects that benefit the local community.
In this document we have outlined the main Benefit Objectives and Key Results that we track. These targets and results are team based efforts: we do not track individual performance. Everyone can contribute to the :m team reaching its targets each quarter and you can help by tracking your contribution and adding it to the team effort. As a new employee you will receive guidance on how the OKRs work, as well as getting updates along the way during your time in mondora.
We have a company policy whereby we prefer local suppliers wherever possible. All suppliers are screened for negative practices (ie. no child labour!) and we always prefer those who go beyond neutral and have a positive impact on the world: B Corps, companies that provide a public Sustainability Report, companies with which we make an Interdependence Agreement and work on a Benefit Project together. You can read the full document here, and you can find more information about negative practices screening in our :m Negative Impact document here.
Salaries are set according to your category and level of experience and are reviewed accordingly. You will find more information about your salary in your contract agreement.
Salaries are paid out on the 15th of every month. Payslips are handed out a few days beforehand on Google Drive (look for the folder with your name). By the end of each month you should fill out the work hours sheet, indicating 8 hours per day for a full day’s work, or less if you took paid leave. Days off should be marked F.
mondora does not pay for overtime, so make sure you balance your work week correctly: you are required to work not more than 40 hours a week. If one day you work 10 hours, and the next day 6 hours, that is fine, but on the hours sheet you should write 8 hours for each day (this is for payroll office to get things right!).
In addition to your monthly salary, mondora also pays €8 per working day for lunch allowance. This will appear in your payslip and be paid with your salary each month.
Further, you can claim back travel expenses for journeys to customer offices through the appropriate form (ask our admin guru Lucia for the form).
Many players in mondora have chosen to publish their salary internally for others to see. As a new employee you can choose if you would also like to publish your salary, and if you wish to see others' salaries. In order to access this information you must join the Slack channel #salaries. Here you will then find a spreadsheet with salary info and you can add your own if you like.
The company is a place where each of us takes care of the rest. That's why we love the idea of giving a prize to teams instead of individuals. Bonuses are distributed to the whole team who has to share it out in a specific timeframe. If the team is not able to agree on how to share the bonus in the specified time, the whole sum will be used for other projects instead. The idea is to think about the bonus from the perspective of your colleagues and try to understand why it would be essential for them to receive it.
If you’re working more than 40 hours a week, or you see a further opportunity with a customer, you’re required to agree how to tackle this extra work with your colleagues. Once you have agreed with your team that you require extra help, you and your colleagues can then start the hiring process.
You will be in charge on hiring your next colleague by following our hiring and training guidelines.
You are allowed 24 days of paid vacation per calendar year. Vacation days do not “expire”, so you can transfer any left-over days to the next year. If you require more vacation days than you have, you can request for unpaid vacation or, in some cases, “borrow” days from the next calendar year.
mondora has the right to decide on the period in which two weeks of vacation a year can be taken (usually in August, when the company closes for summer holidays). The remaining days can be taken whenever you want, once you have agreed on them with your team.
The company doesn’t incentivize having more than 40 days of unused vacation left over. Once you have reached 40 spared vacation days, you will be pushed to take holidays. In some cases the company will force and plan your vacation.
In addition to vacation days, you are allowed 72 hours of paid leave per year. You can take up to 4 hours paid leave per day. Hours of leave that have not been used up within the calendar year will add up to those of the next year. Alternatively, you can ask for these hours to be paid in your payslip (taxed) or through an Amazon gift voucher (not taxed). Other types of paid leave offered at mondora are hours off for attending courses, conferences, and other events that are relevant to mondora. These hours are in addition to the 72 hours of regular leave you have available each year. Hours that you take off one day, but then regain by working overtime the next, do not count as leave hours. Remember to balance your work week correctly.
Maternity and paternity leave options are available at mondora, and generally follow standard Italian laws. However, if you require further leave over what is determined by law, this will be granted. There is no maximum length to maternity and paternity leave: we are a B Corporation and value our employees and their needs, so we go beyond standard laws and provide for each individual as best we can!
Vacation days and leave hours should first of all be agreed within your team. Also, don’t forget to inform the other teams, using the channel #assenze on Slack.
During the first six months of your time with us (trial period), you are free to terminate your contract and leave with one day’s notice. mondora can also terminate your contract with one day’s notice if circumstances require.
After the trial period, termination notice has to be given in writing, both by you and by mondora, following the termination notice periods outlined in the C.C.N.L. METALMECCANICI, which vary according to your professional level and period of work. The termination notice period starts from the middle or end of each month. If one party terminates the contract without following the termination notice period rules correctly, or without giving notice, that party will have to pay for the remainder of the termination time.
Once you have handed in your termination notice, you are expected to gradually decrease your workload until the day you leave. During this time you should ensure you close all open activities, or pass them on to a colleague. You will no longer accept new projects or work fully on current projects. This is to ensure that nothing is left unfinished and that a colleague can easily continue the work once you have left.
We believe that the company is a platform in which everyone can develop their talents. As we value our colleagues inside the company, we also value them when they wish to leave, so we think we should help people leave without to much stress. Our Parachute policy gives everyone the option to return to the company within 12 months of leaving, and receive the same salary. When someone decides to leave we will ask all colleagues to agree to the parachute policy option: as long as 10% of the company workforce is favorable the person leaving will receive a letter in which this option is specified and agreed.
We have a formal routine in place to report any breaches of law, ethics, behavior, policies, or any other abuses in a confidential and anonymous format. Not only is it important that we maintain our responsibility towards all our stakeholders, but it is imperative that all team players conduct themselves in an ethical and honest manner. You can report an event anonymously through Officevibe: simply use the “anything else on your mind” box at the end of your weekly survey and submit your complaint. The complaint will be viewed by the team so that a dialogue can be started and the issue resolved. In the unlikely event of criminal offences, these will be investigated and reported to police.
The Code of ethics is the basis for ethical decision making in the conduct of professional work. Some words and phrases in the code of ethics can be subject to varying interpretations, and any ethical principle may conflict with other ethical principles in specific situations. Questions related to ethical conflicts can best be answered by thoughtful consideration of fundamental principles, rather than reliance on detailed regulations.
mondora is a Certified B Corporation. All mondora workers agree to, and respect, the B Corporation values, thus complying to the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and performance. A B Corporation is a company that uses business as a force for good, creating higher quality jobs and improving the quality of life in our community.
This principle concerning the quality of life of all people affirms an obligation to protect fundamental human rights and to respect the diversity of all cultures. An essential aim of IT professionals is to minimize negative consequences of computing systems, including threats to health and safety. When designing or implementing systems, IT professionals must attempt to ensure that the products of their efforts will be used in socially responsible ways, will meet social needs, and will avoid harmful effects to health and welfare.
In addition to a safe social environment, human well-being includes a safe natural environment. Therefore, IT professionals who design and develop systems must be alert to, and make others aware of, any potential damage to the local or global environment.
Because organizations of all kinds have impacts on the public, they must accept responsibilities to society. Organizational procedures and attitudes oriented toward quality and the welfare of society will reduce harm to members of the public, thereby serving public interest and fulfilling social responsibility. Therefore,organizational leaders must encourage full participation in meeting social responsibilities as well as quality performance.
Honesty is an essential component of trust. Without trust an organization cannot function effectively. The honest professional worker will not make deliberately false or deceptive claims about his work. A professional worker has a duty to be honest about his or her own qualifications, and about any circumstances that might lead to conflicts of interest.
The values of equality, tolerance, respect for others, and the principles of equal justice govern this imperative. Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, age, disability, national origin, or other such factors is an explicit violation of mondora’s policy and will not be tolerated.
Violation of copyrights, patents, trade secrets and the terms of license agreements is prohibited by law in most circumstances. Even when software is not so protected, such violations are contrary to professional behavior. Copies of software should be made only with proper authorization. Unauthorized duplication of materials must not be condoned. Computing professionals are obligated to protect the integrity of intellectual property. Specifically, one must not take credit for other's ideas or work, even in cases where the work has not been explicitly protected by copyright, patent, etc.
Computing and communication technology enables the collection and exchange of personal information on a scale unprecedented in the history of civilization. Thus there is increased potential for violating the privacy of individuals and groups. It is the responsibility of professionals to maintain the privacy and integrity of data describing individuals. This includes taking precautions to ensure the accuracy of data, as well as protecting it from unauthorized access or accidental disclosure to inappropriate individuals. Furthermore, procedures must be established to allow individuals to review their records and correct inaccuracies.
This imperative implies that only the necessary amount of personal information be collected in a system, that retention and disposal periods for that information be clearly defined and enforced, and that personal information gathered for a specific purpose not be used for other purposes without consent of the individual(s). These principles apply to electronic communications, including electronic mail, and prohibit procedures that capture or monitor electronic user data, including messages,without the permission of users or bona fide authorization related to system operation and maintenance. User data observed during the normal duties of system operation and maintenance must be treated with strictest confidentiality, except in cases where it is evidence for the violation of law, organizational regulations, or this Code. In these cases, the nature or contents of that information must be disclosed only to proper authorities.
The principle of honesty extends to issues of confidentiality of information whenever one has made an explicit promise to honor confidentiality or, implicitly, when private information not directly related to the performance of one's duties becomes available. The ethical concern is to respect all obligations of confidentiality to employers, customers, and users unless discharged from such obligations by requirements of the law or other principles of this Code.
Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the process and products of professional work. Excellence is perhaps the most important obligation of a professional. The professional worker must strive to achieve quality and to be cognizant of the serious negative consequences that may result from poor quality in his or her work.
Excellence depends on individuals who take responsibility for acquiring and maintaining professional competence. A professional must participate in setting standards for appropriate levels of competence, and strive to achieve those standards. Upgrading technical knowledge and competence can be achieved in several ways: doing independent study; attending seminars, conferences, or courses; and being involved in professional organizations.
mondora workers must obey existing local, state,province, national, and international laws unless there is a compelling ethical basis not to do so. Policies and procedures of the organizations in which one participates must also be obeyed. But compliance must be balanced with the recognition that sometimes existing laws and rules may be immoral or inappropriate and, therefore, must be challenged. Violation of a law or regulation may be ethical when that law or rule has inadequate moral basis or when it conflicts with another law judged to be more important. If one decides to violate a law or rule because it is viewed as unethical, or for any other reason, one must fully accept responsibility for one's actions and for the consequences.
Quality professional work, especially in the computing profession, depends on professional reviewing and critiquing. Whenever appropriate, individual members should seek and utilize peer review as well as provide critical review of the work of others.
IT professionals must strive to be perceptive, thorough, and objective when evaluating, recommending, and presenting system descriptions and alternatives. IT professionals are in a position of special trust, and therefore have a special responsibility to provide objective, credible evaluations to employers, customers, users, and the public. When providing evaluations the professional must also identify any relevant conflicts of interest. Any signs of danger from systems must be reported to those who have opportunity and/or responsibility to resolve them.
Honoring one's commitments is a matter of integrity and honesty. For the IT professional this includes ensuring that system elements perform as intended. Also, when one contracts for work with another party, one has an obligation to keep that party properly informed about progress toward completing that work.
The future of the IT profession depends on both technical and ethical excellence. Not only is it important for mondora professionals to adhere to the principles expressed in this Code, each member should encourage and support adherence by other members.