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In the paper[1]"How to Transform Failure into Success: Forensic Management," perhaps the most unaddressed part of the system of management is the human side. Human Systems Engineering recognizes and includes, with the same attention to detail as applications dealing with the technical side, anticipatable people-driven issues at the project, organizational, and individual level. The role of each component of the system of management is not to optimize its part, but to focus on the intended outcome for that system. The specifics that follow are translatable, fundamental parts of the system of management derived from the application of Forensic Management."

It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by looking backwards at a very public failure of the current ASCE Code of Ethics. One example is in the case of the Flint, Michigan, Water Quality matter, as studied and reported by Dr. Marc Edwards, P.E.

The cast of public and private civil engineers involved from the very beginning and the paths they selected to state publically, compared to what they actually did privately offers an opportunity to move away from philosophy into the real world.  @Brock Barry and @Dwayne Culp I would be interested to hear your thoughts.  

                           Selected C-Span Video Clips [3]

                         "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

                                                                              --George Santayana

[1] Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities February 2007 Volume 21, Issue 1 (2 - 3)Online publication date: February 01, 2007
And the Flint, MI, piece is CRITICAL to this thread.

[2]https://www.c-span.org/video/?404989-3/washington-journal-marc-edwards-flint-michigan-water-contamination&start=2078&transcriptQuery=flint

"It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by first looking back at very public failures of the current ASCE Code of Ethics."

Well, of course that's our next step!

It's what competent engineers do!

For example, when a Structural Engineering Department Head realizes that a particular connection has caused repeated fabrication and installation problems, their first step is to gather data and information on failed connections from various perspectives before planning, designing, and eventually releasing a new connection.

That's exactly what this next professional step is about.

Seek first to understand before we start to prescribe "The Obvious Solution."

A Code of Ethics (CoE) doesn't solve challenging real-world engineering ethical challenges. Our civil engineers do. What might we learn from studying our civil engineers past ethical failures to guide the formation of a revised ASCE Code of Ethics that supports the desired behaviors of our civil engineers. One specific failure I know of centers on the people who depended on Civil Engineers to deliver what they said was true. . . face-2-face, in the newspapers, on TV, in front of congressional committees. . .  "The water is safe for you and your children to drink." And it turned out, based on the verbal and written testimony of civil engineering experts, they were lying[1].

The attachment is an unverified list from a newspaper of the events over some 4 years or so. I did go to the Michigan ASCE online site and was unable to find any specific information on this matter. I trust you will have examples of other serious breaches of trust based on our Code of Ethics to share. Our edited revisions to yet another "New and improved" version will be meaningless without first understanding why the current Code of Ethics had, apparently, little to no restraining force to the unethical work of and by some civil engineers.

Cheers,
Bill

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/01/16/feature/they-helped-expose-unsafe-lead-levels-in-flints-and-in-d-c-s-water-then-they-turned-on-each-other/

In the paper[1]"How to Transform Failure into Success: Forensic Management," perhaps the most unaddressed part of the system of management is the human side. Human Systems Engineering recognizes and includes, with the same attention to detail as applications dealing with the technical side, anticipatable people-driven issues at the project, organizational, and individual level. The role of each component of the system of management is not to optimize its part, but to focus on the intended outcome for that system. The specifics that follow are translatable, fundamental parts of the system of management derived from the application of Forensic Management."

It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by looking backwards at a very public failure of the current ASCE Code of Ethics. One example is in the case of the Flint, Michigan, Water Quality matter, as studied and reported by Dr. Marc Edwards, P.E.

The cast of public and private civil engineers involved from the very beginning and the paths they selected to state publically, compared to what they actually did privately offers an opportunity to move away from philosophy into the real world.  @Brock Barry and @Dwayne Culp I would be interested to hear your thoughts.  

                           Selected C-Span Video Clips [3]

                         "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

                                                                              --George Santayana

[1] Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities February 2007 Volume 21, Issue 1 (2 - 3)Online publication date: February 01, 2007
And the Flint, MI, piece is CRITICAL to this thread.

[2]https://www.c-span.org/video/?404989-3/washington-journal-marc-edwards-flint-michigan-water-contamination&start=2078&transcriptQuery=flint

"It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by first looking back at very public failures of the current ASCE Code of Ethics."

Well, of course that's our next step!

It's what competent engineers do!

For example, when a Structural Engineering Department Head realizes that a particular connection has caused repeated fabrication and installation problems, their first step is to gather data and information on failed connections from various perspectives before planning, designing, and eventually releasing a new connection.

That's exactly what this next professional step is about.

Seek first to understand before we start to prescribe "The Obvious Solution."

A Code of Ethics (CoE) doesn't solve challenging real-world engineering ethical challenges. Our civil engineers do. What might we learn from studying our civil engineers past ethical failures to guide the formation of a revised ASCE Code of Ethics that supports the desired behaviors of our civil engineers. One specific failure I know of centers on the people who depended on Civil Engineers to deliver what they said was true. . . face-2-face, in the newspapers, on TV, in front of congressional committees. . .  "The water is safe for you and your children to drink." And it turned out, based on the verbal and written testimony of civil engineering experts, they were lying[1].

The attachment is an unverified list from a newspaper of the events over some 4 years or so. I did go to the Michigan ASCE online site and was unable to find any specific information on this matter. I trust you will have examples of other serious breaches of trust based on our Code of Ethics to share. Our edited revisions to yet another "New and improved" version will be meaningless without first understanding why the current Code of Ethics had, apparently, little to no restraining force to the unethical work of and by some civil engineers.

Cheers,
Bill

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/01/16/feature/they-helped-expose-unsafe-lead-levels-in-flints-and-in-d-c-s-water-then-they-turned-on-each-other/

In the paper[1]"How to Transform Failure into Success: Forensic Management," perhaps the most unaddressed part of the system of management is the human side. Human Systems Engineering recognizes and includes, with the same attention to detail as applications dealing with the technical side, anticipatable people-driven issues at the project, organizational, and individual level. The role of each component of the system of management is not to optimize its part, but to focus on the intended outcome for that system. The specifics that follow are translatable, fundamental parts of the system of management derived from the application of Forensic Management."

It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by looking backwards at a very public failure of the current ASCE Code of Ethics. One example is in the case of the Flint, Michigan, Water Quality matter, as studied and reported by Dr. Marc Edwards, P.E.

The cast of public and private civil engineers involved from the very beginning and the paths they selected to state publically, compared to what they actually did privately offers an opportunity to move away from philosophy into the real world.  @Brock Barry and @Dwayne Culp I would be interested to hear your thoughts.  

                           Selected C-Span Video Clips [3]

                         "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

                                                                              --George Santayana

[1] Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities February 2007 Volume 21, Issue 1 (2 - 3)Online publication date: February 01, 2007
And the Flint, MI, piece is CRITICAL to this thread.

[2]https://www.c-span.org/video/?404989-3/washington-journal-marc-edwards-flint-michigan-water-contamination&start=2078&transcriptQuery=flint

In the paper[1]"How to Transform Failure into Success: Forensic Management," perhaps the most unaddressed part of the system of management is the human side. Human Systems Engineering recognizes and includes, with the same attention to detail as applications dealing with the technical side, anticipatable people-driven issues at the project, organizational, and individual level. The role of each component of the system of management is not to optimize its part, but to focus on the intended outcome for that system. The specifics that follow are translatable, fundamental parts of the system of management derived from the application of Forensic Management."

It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by looking backwards at a very public failure of the current ASCE Code of Ethics. One example is in the case of the Flint, Michigan, Water Quality matter, as studied and reported by Dr. Marc Edwards, P.E.

The cast of public and private civil engineers involved from the very beginning and the paths they selected to state publically, compared to what they actually did privately offers an opportunity to move away from philosophy into the real world.  @Brock Barry and @Dwayne Culp I would be interested to hear your thoughts.  

                           Selected C-Span Video Clips [3]

                         "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

                                                                              --George Santayana

[1] Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities February 2007 Volume 21, Issue 1 (2 - 3)Online publication date: February 01, 2007
And the Flint, MI, piece is CRITICAL to this thread.

[2]https://www.c-span.org/video/?404989-3/washington-journal-marc-edwards-flint-michigan-water-contamination&start=2078&transcriptQuery=flint

In the paper[1]"How to Transform Failure into Success: Forensic Management," perhaps the most unaddressed part of the system of management is the human side. Human Systems Engineering recognizes and includes, with the same attention to detail as applications dealing with the technical side, anticipatable people-driven issues at the project, organizational, and individual level. The role of each component of the system of management is not to optimize its part, but to focus on the intended outcome for that system. The specifics that follow are translatable, fundamental parts of the system of management derived from the application of Forensic Management."

It occurred to me that we would gain priceless insights going forward, by looking backwards at a very public failure of the current ASCE Code of Ethics. One example is in the case of the Flint, Michigan, Water Quality matter, as studied and reported by Dr. Marc Edwards, P.E.

The cast of public and private civil engineers involved from the very beginning and the paths they selected to state publically, compared to what they actually did privately offers an opportunity to move away from philosophy into the real world.  @Brock Barry and @Dwayne Culp I would be interested to hear your thoughts.  

                           Selected C-Span Video Clips [3]

                         "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

                                                                              --George Santayana

[1] Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities February 2007 Volume 21, Issue 1 (2 - 3)Online publication date: February 01, 2007
And the Flint, MI, piece is CRITICAL to this thread.

[2]https://www.c-span.org/video/?404989-3/washington-journal-marc-edwards-flint-michigan-water-contamination&start=2078&transcriptQuery=flint