The Role of Software Engineers and Product Owners in Sustainable Product Design

At XOOTS we aim to benefit the societies we operate in with our focus on sustainable product design. 

The global awareness of ESG agendas (environmental, social, and governance) is steadily increasing. Organizations are now faced with the task of not only meeting regulatory and compliance obligations but also adopting an ethical approach towards sustainability. 

As concerns about climate change and environmental impact continue to grow, companies are increasingly looking for ways to make their products more sustainable. While many efforts have focused on reducing packaging waste and improving energy efficiency, software engineers and product owners also have an important role to play in creating sustainable digital products. At XOOTS we believe, software engineering and product design intersect with sustainability in six ways: 

1. Choose the Right Programming Languages: One of the most fundamental decisions that software engineers make is which programming language to use. While there are many factors that go into this decision, sustainability is becoming an increasingly important consideration. Some programming languages are more resource-intensive than others, meaning that they require more processing power and energy to run. According to a study by the University of California, Berkeley, the carbon footprint of software can be reduced by up to 80% by using more sustainable programming languages and better code optimization techniques. For example, languages like C, C++, Rust tend to be less resource-intensive than languages like Python, Ruby and Perl. By choosing a more efficient programming language, software engineers can help to reduce the carbon footprint of their software products

1. Minimize Technical Debt: Technical debt can come in many forms, such as poorly organized code, redundant or unnecessary functions, or excessive coupling between different parts of the software. When technical debt accumulates, it can lead to slower development times, more bugs, and more resource-intensive code. It quietly eats away at the productivity of tech teams, causing a more than 20 percent decline in efficiency as they grapple with the challenges it brings. It’s like trying to run with an increasingly heavy anchor tied to your leg. By minimizing technical debt, software engineers and product owners can help to create software that is easier to maintain and more efficient to run. Addressing technical debt is crucial to propel business transformation efforts forward, as it removes the drag holding back progress.

1. Conduct Code Scanning: Code scanning is the process of using automated tools to analyze software code for potential issues or vulnerabilities. By conducting code scanning on a regular basis, software engineers and product owners can identify areas where code quality could be improved, and take steps to address these issues. For example, code scanning tools can identify areas of code that are particularly resource-intensive, such as functions that require a lot of processing power or that make excessive calls to external services. By addressing these issues, software engineers can help to create more sustainable software products.

1. Focus on Code Refactoring: Prioritizing code refactoring and cleanup is also important for eliminating tech debt. This means regularly reviewing and revising the code to eliminate redundancies, simplify dependencies, and improve performance. Code reviews and pair programming can help catch issues early and ensure that best practices are being followed.

1. Implement Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are software development practices that automate the process of building, testing, and deploying code changes. By automating these processes, software engineers can reduce the amount of time and energy required to deploy new code updates. This can help to reduce the overall carbon footprint of software products, as well as increase the speed and efficiency of software development.

1. Use Cloud Services Providers: One major shift in software engineering in recent years has been the move toward cloud computing. Cloud services providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform offer a range of services and tools that can help software engineers and product owners to create more sustainable software products. For example, cloud services can help to reduce the need for physical data centers, which can consume a lot of energy and contribute to carbon emissions. According to a report by the International Energy Agency, data centers and networks together accounted for about 1% of global electricity consumption in 2019, with emissions equivalent to those of the entire aviation industry. Additionally, some cloud services providers offer more efficient hardware than others that are optimized for different workloads, including some that are specifically designed to be more energy-efficient.

In conclusion, software engineers and product owners have an important role to play in creating sustainable products. By choosing efficient programming languages, minimizing technical debt, conducting code scanning, implementing CI/CD, and using cloud services providers, software engineers and product owners can help to reduce the carbon footprint of their software products, while also improving their performance and maintainability. As concerns about sustainability continue to grow, these practices will become even more important in future.