You Can Now Sign the WordPress Developer Honor Code
A couple of months back I wrote a really long (sorry!) and really impassioned article about:
- Why many or most WordPress clients are having a bad experience,
- Why I think WordPress development needs a Developer Code of Honor to fix this, and
- What I think that Code of Honor should contain.
The article generated a lot of really helpful feedback, which I appreciated hugely, and enough interest that I felt encouraged to move forward.
And here we are! The WordPress Developer Code of Honor (or WP Honor Code for short) is now ready for you to officially sign:
How to Use the WordPress Honor Code
As it says on the About page, the Honor Code will help both developers, and potential clients who need a website.
Developers can:
- Read and sign the Code
- List your business
- Display swag
Potential clients can:
- Skim the Code
- Hire from listed developers
- Give feedback on your developer experience
So the overall idea is that developers can signal their commitment to doing right by their clients, and clients can choose committed developers and hold them accountable to their commitment. Sounds good, right?
Feedback and Evolution of the Honor Code
I’ve already mulled over and incorporated a lot of the feedback I got on the original piece. I very much want the Honor Code to be an evolving document, and so I’ve started versioning the Code. The current version is 1.0, and when it’s periodically ready for changes I’ll bump up the version, contact the existing signers and make sure they’re still comfortable committing to the revised version.
So we’d still very much love to hear your thoughts on this idea. In fact, we’d eventually like to build a place for community discussion around the Honor Code, but right now that would be premature.
So if you have thoughts, questions, or suggestions about the text of the Honor Code, the site, or anything related, your best bet for a lively discussion that we’ll see and respond to is in the WPShout Facebook group. The comments section below is good too. 🙂
Swag
I put together some “I Signed” and “We Signed” buttons as swag for people and agencies who commit to the code:
Cool, right? Obviously don’t use any of these without signing the Honor Code itself—we’re relying on, well, an honor system there.
Get Signing!
Fellow developers: Now’s the time to put your name on the Code. If we can get lots of agencies committed, we can make this a real force for good in WordPress.