3 ways product managers, researchers, and designers can address systemic bias

How technologists have the power to impact people's lives and why it matters.

As technologists, the work we do impacts real people’s lives. It impacts how they interact with the world around them, what services they have access to and what their experiences are. When we design products, services or policies, we either allow existing systems and biases to continue to exist, or we change them.

So what is power, and how do we leverage the power that we have for good?

A simplified definition of power is: the ability to alter the range of possibilities for other people, by increasing or decreasing their future potential.

We can think about power in 4 forms:

• power over - authoritative, dominating or controlling power, like a strategy that comes from the executive team that your team needs to carry out

• power within - the awareness of one’s own power and the power dynamics that exist, like being aware of who has the power in the organisation to make or influence key decisions, and where you have leverage

• power to - productive power that creates new possibilities without domination, like giving a junior colleague time in the leadership meeting to present their work

• power with - shared power that grows with collaboration, like bringing previously siloed teams together in a workshop, which sparks new collaborative opportunities and ideas and grows everyone’s power and influence

When we see this, we might default to thinking that we don’t have power- that whoever currently holds ‘power over’ in our organisation is the one with real power.

But I want to challenge us to think about where we actually do have power— especially over those who are going to use the product or service we are creating, and what can happen if we aren’t aware of the power we hold.

Here are 3 ways tech professionals have power.

1. As tech professionals, we influence which voices are heard.

Whether we are presenting findings or research to product leaders, making decisions on the design of an app, or testing new features, we are exercising power. We are influencing what’s considered a gap in data, what evidence we should collect, and once we’ve collected and synthesised the research, we are then influencing what kind of evidence people value by telling them what we think is worth hearing.

What kinds of assumptions are we making on people’s actual beliefs, actions and experiences based on what they tell us, and what we ask? Are we assuming that just because nobody’s spoken up, they’re satisfied with the existing product or service? Do we need to rethink what types of data we’re collecting and analysing - for example, do we need to start paying attention to who’s silent, and what that might be telling us?

2. As tech professionals, we create the experiences people have with our product and in our research.

When we design service or research experiences, we influence people’s wellbeing. These experiences are extremely important, not just because they influence user affinity for our product or monetisation options down the line, but because they encourage certain behaviours. Over time, these behaviours impact people’s beliefs about themselves, and influence their self worth and their “power within”. There’s a whole body of work on trauma-informed research and design that explores how “behaviours and norms that destroy, invalidate or erase our sense of identity, our wellbeing and sense of self can cause trauma”.

What kinds of behaviours or norms do our products and services evoke? How would we feel if we went through our research process or were users of our products or services? Who are our users, and how might their backgrounds influence how they experience the same product or service? Are they empowering, or are they disempowering? If we prompt users to tell us about difficult moments in their lives, are we finding ways to help them resolve the issue or deal with the agitation, stress or anxiety that comes up?

3. As tech professionals, we have the power to influence what gets worked on.

We write problem statements, create backlogs, prioritise problems to work on, and identify target users. While this might seem trivial, when we scope or write problem statements, we are actually exercising power and setting the stage for which ideas make it, and which don’t. We are influencing which “target market” or demographic gets resources and new tech and who doesn’t, or whose pain points are addressed first, which could be reinforcing age-old biases.

If we’re working with or embedded in government, financial or health organisations that are supposed to serve everyone, focusing on one group over the other is within our organisation’s power - and with great power comes great responsibility.

Even if there are limitations to the extent that we can impact demographic inequality, like if we’re at a startup with a specific target-market fit or a company that doesn’t have the scope or capabilities to take on more systemic issues, it’s still useful to ask ourselves, where do we have the power to influence which projects get worked on, and therefore which ideas get recommended? Where can we influence what parts of the problem are seen to prompt a more fair and equitable future?

As product managers, researchers, and designers, we may not always have the final say, but we DO have power to increase or decrease people’s future potentials.

Just by reading this article, you are growing your power within - your awareness of power and how it manifests (or doesn’t) in your day-to-day.

How will you use that power?

Will you hold it, will you share it, or will you give it away, and what could happen?

Thanks for reading! I’m currently hosting pro-bono workshops for organisations on responsible tech. Contact me on linkedin if you’re interested! :)

DEI, responsible tech, responsible AI, diversity, tech ethics, inclusive design