Digital Sustainability — Designing a greener future (Part 3)
Product development teams have the world at their fingertips.
In the third instalment of this series, we will investigate how professionals within product development teams can make a difference. Developers and designers to business analysts and scrum masters — there are opportunities for everyone to improve workflows and create a more sustainable product. I’ve decided to break up a typical product development team into 3 areas: User Centred Design, Development and Product Strategy. As with any team, there may be members who are involved in multiple areas, so we’ll focus on the distinctive roles within each — rather than the people who may occupy them.
For those who may be unfamiliar with these, or would like to assimilate their own responsibilities to them, I’ll provide a brief overview before exploring sustainability considerations and methodologies.
User Centred Design
Typical roles
UX/UI Designer, Product Designer, Interaction Designer, User Researcher, Service Designer, Content Designer.
Key responsibilities
User Centred Design (UCD) is at the heart of creating digital products that meet user needs. Practitioners focus on understanding the end-user’s requirements and behaviours, ensuring that the design process is guided by real user feedback and insights. Research, service mapping and prototyping are key activities within this space, focusing on understanding current processes, identifying areas for improvement, and defining the vision for the product.
Sustainability considerations
UCD emphasises efficiency and simplicity, which naturally aligns with reducing digital waste and optimising energy use. As they are the ones driving the design of the product, they have a wealth of opportunities to shape it in a sustainable manner.
Methodologies
Planet Centric Personas/Journeys — Consider creating a user persona for the planet, or adding a channel to your user journeys for environmental considerations.
How Might We statements — Create How Might We statements that consider sustainability. How Might We… create a product that aligns with the client’s sustainability goals? How Might We… encourage users to use sustainable features?
Evaluating transfer methods — Digital and physical. When service mapping, think about the methods used in transferring data or products and if they can be made more sustainable.
Sustainability features — Can the product benefit from features that encourage users to be more sustainable? Search filters, comparisons, dashboards, dark mode — just to name a few.
Design choices — Fonts, colours, media usage — there are many design elements that can be optimised to minimise data transfer sizes.
Development
Typical roles
Front-end Developer, Back-end Developer, Full-stack Developer, Infrastructure Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Solutions Architect.
Key responsibilities
The Development team is responsible for turning design concepts into functional, high-performing products. They focus on building and maintaining the software and infrastructure that powers digital products, ensuring that everything runs smoothly, efficiently, and securely. This involves coding, testing, deployment, and continuous integration, as well as managing servers and databases.
Sustainability considerations
Developers have a significant influence on the sustainability of digital products. By writing efficient code, optimising resources, and choosing sustainable infrastructure, they can drastically reduce the digital carbon footprint of the products they create and maintain.
Methodologies
Efficient coding practices — Write clean, efficient code that reduces processing time and resource consumption. Minimising unnecessary operations and loops can lead to faster execution and lower energy use.
Optimising data transfer — Reduce the size and frequency of data transfers by compressing files, optimising images, and decreasing the number of HTTP requests.
Sustainable infrastructure choices — Choose servers and hosting services that prioritise renewable energy and efficient data centre operations. Consider the environmental impact of cloud services and explore options like serverless architecture to optimise resource use.
Load management and caching — Implement caching strategies and load management techniques to minimise server load and reduce the need for constant data processing, thereby saving energy.
Green software engineering — Incorporate principles of green software engineering into your development process. This includes practices such as continuous performance testing to ensure that the software remains efficient over time and considering the environmental impact of software updates and new features.
Product Strategy
Typical roles
Project Manager, Product Owner, Business Analyst, Tester/QA Specialist, Scrum Master.
Key responsibilities
The Product Strategy team is tasked with defining the vision, direction, and roadmap for the product. Working alongside leads from UCD and Development, they ensure that the product aligns with business objectives and user needs while managing stakeholder expectations. This group is also responsible for prioritising features, coordinating cross-functional teams, and validating that the product meets its intended goals through rigorous testing.
Sustainability considerations
Product Strategy plays a pivotal role in embedding sustainability into the core of product development. By setting sustainability goals and prioritising eco-friendly features, they can steer the entire project towards more sustainable outcomes. Their decisions can influence not only the product’s functionality, but also its long-term environmental impact.
Methodologies
Sustainability-focused roadmapping — Integrate sustainability into the product roadmap by prioritising features and updates that contribute to reducing the product’s carbon footprint. This includes considering the long-term environmental impact of the product’s lifecycle.
Stakeholder alignment on sustainability goals — Work closely with stakeholders to ensure that sustainability is a shared priority. Consider the client’s broader sustainability goals and how your product can align with them.
Eco-friendly testing protocols — Implement testing methodologies that not only focus on functionality and performance but also consider the environmental impact. This could include testing for energy efficiency, resource utilisation, and the sustainability of various product features.
Data-driven decision making — Use data analytics to inform strategic decisions around sustainability. Track the product’s energy consumption, user interactions, and other metrics that can highlight opportunities for reducing the digital carbon footprint.
What’s Next?
The hardest part in driving sustainability within product development is modifying existing methodologies. It’s difficult to change ways of working that have been in place — tried and tested — for a very long time. But, by starting small and demonstrating value, teams will find ways to adapt and stakeholders will encourage it once the results are seen. In the final instalment, we’ll look at Challenges and Breakthroughs as we evaluate the current landscape, and peer into the future.
If you missed the two articles:
The Invisible Environmental Crisis
What is Digital Sustainability, and why is it such an important topic?
Investigating the different attitudes we can embrace to improve our approach towards sustainability.
Or, continue by reading:
Today’s Challenges & Tomorrow’s Solutions
A thought-piece investigating the challenges and breakthroughs we are experiencing now, and what the future may hold.
