“We care about what we build — but what does it mean to build it responsibly?”
You solve real problems — designing products, scaling systems, integrating models, making things work. But when a feature is supposed to be “ethical”, “responsible” or “trustworthy” the direction gets fuzzy. What does that actually mean for design decisions, trade-offs, or code?
WHAT YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE
You’re shipping faster than ever — but value and responsibility are hard to make actionable
Digital systems, automation, and AI enter the workplace at high speed. Management wants to move forward, vendors promise efficiency — yet essential questions often stay unanswered:
What does this mean for workload and stress?
Will the system be fair, transparent, and inclusive?
How will tasks, skills, and responsibilities change?
And how can concerns be raised early enough to influence decisions?
Without a structured process, social and ethical considerations are easily overshadowed by technical priorities. VBE gives worker representatives the tools to surface these issues constructively and make sure they matter.
HOW VBE SUPPORTS YOU
A structured approach that fits into agile development – without slowing you down.
VBE integrates seamlessly into discovery, refinement, and sprint planning. It gives teams actionable decision inputs that are traceable, explainable, and aligned with user expectations, ethical guidelines, and compliance requirements.
With VBE, product teams gain clarity early, reduce rework, and build systems that not only function — but stand up to social, ethical, and regulatory expectations.
Value-based Engineering (VBE) provides a clear process that helps worker representatives bring these perspectives to the table early – and keep them there throughout design and implementation. It turns questions about impact on people into structured dialogue and concrete requirements that management and technical teams can work with.
Turn abstract values into clear, testable inputs
VBE helps you break big concepts like fairness, transparency, or autonomy into concrete acceptance criteria, design constraints, and traceable decisions.
Surface risks early – when they’re still easy to fix
By mapping stakeholder values and possible impacts, you identify risks (e.g., bias, exclusion, misuse) before they get baked into architecture or UX flows.
Align product, engineering, and legal teams
VBE creates a shared language so product owners, developers, policy experts, and designers can collaborate more smoothly and reduce misalignment.
Reduce rework through structured decision-making
Clear reasoning behind trade-offs and design decisions reduces back-and-forth, last-minute changes, and implementation uncertainty.
Build products ready for scrutiny — not just deployment
From documentation to rationale tracking, VBE helps you design systems that can withstand audits, public questions, or regulatory reviews.
Want to learn more?
Explore the VBE Academy to discover our full training pathway and the broader ecosystem that supports responsible technology.
Learn how our programs, services, and community help you put values into practice.
