alexe-ev Apply Ethical Decision Framework
Purpose
Help product teams evaluate decisions through an ethical lens, identify potential harms, and make more responsible choices.
Skill type
Conceptual skill
Use this skill when
- A product decision may harm certain user groups or create unfair outcomes
- A feature optimizes for engagement in ways that may conflict with user wellbeing
- A business model incentive may misalign with user interests
- An AI feature raises fairness, bias, or transparency concerns
- The team wants to stress-test a decision for ethical implications before committing
Do not use this skill when
- The goal is legal compliance (use assess-privacy-security-regulatory)
- The goal is risk management without ethical dimension (use plan-risk-mitigation)
Required inputs
- Product decision or feature being evaluated
- User groups affected
Optional inputs
- Business goal being served
- Known concerns or objections
- Regulatory context
- Relevant demographic or equity considerations
Upstream context
Works best when:
- Product requirements are defined
- Affected user groups are known
Downstream handoff
Output can feed:
- plan-risk-mitigation (ethical risks become formal risks to mitigate)
- govern-responsible-ai (for AI-specific ethical issues)
Instructions
- Identify all user groups affected by the decision, including marginalized or vulnerable groups.
- Identify potential harms: psychological, financial, privacy, autonomy, fairness.
- Assess harms by likelihood and severity.
- Evaluate the decision through multiple ethical lenses: utility, rights, fairness, care.
- Identify who benefits and who bears the cost.
- Recommend adjustments to reduce harm or improve fairness.
- Flag cases where the decision should be escalated for leadership or legal review.
Output
Provide:
- Affected user group map (including vulnerable groups)
- Potential harm identification by type and severity
- Ethical evaluation across frameworks (utility / rights / fairness / care)
- Benefit and burden distribution
- Recommended adjustments to reduce harm
- Escalation triggers (when this needs leadership or legal input)
Risks / caveats
- Ethical review is a judgment process, not a formula — this skill supports thinking, not replaces it
- Business justification does not automatically override ethical concerns
- Vulnerable user populations often bear disproportionate harm — actively look for them