A belated tribute to moms?
In a way, the mom rule is a tribute to moms. Year round, not just on May’s Mother’s Day. This is about a company that has a unique rule to make sure that the product they developed to engage people would not harm them. Beyond the FDA regulations or international regulators, what’s the safety factor?
Before shipping anything, the developers of this company would ask the team leaders and individual team members, “Would you use this on your Mom?” More than a general statement about safety, this question requires a more personal look into reality. Do the developers care about mom? Confronted eye-to-eye with a momentary reflection about the one who gave birth to you, cared for you and gave you life. That’s the “mom rule.” Would you let her be subject to this thing just built?
Unanimous answer
Until the answer is unanimous, all personnel in agreement and able to voice a confident, “Yes!”, the product did not ship. A very responsible company who refuses to allow the drive for dollars to sublimate the concern for safety. It may be great software full of wonderful experiences and design, but at the top of the list was the need to know, “Is it safe?” Safe for teens. Safe for your brother or sister. Safe for your friends. But what about mom? Safe for her too?
The Mom Rule is a good final test for lots of things, not just software. Great idea. One last note. It took some digging, but I discovered that the company where this rule was introduced was Mako Surgical and the product in question was the Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery device. That makes sense.
