Green Software Process Factors: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, the use of software is growing due to many applications requiring large and complex software. Many people do not realise that the use of software has influenced the operation of computer hardware to move indirectly as it affects the hardware’s energy consumption and carbon emissions. Previous studies focused more on models and tools to measure the impact of power consumption and energy efficiency from hardware than on software development studies. Energy consumption can be optimised by the greening software process throughout all phases of development activity. Besides, the current green software process models are more focused on environmental and economic elements and do not integrate with the waste elements in the development phase. Integrating sustainability and waste elements is essential to ensure that the development process complies with green process standards. A qualitative method is used through interviews involving eight informants from Malaysia’s public and private sectors. The objectives of the empirical study are to reveal the current practices of the green software process in industry, identify software process waste and determine green factors associated with the software process. The analysis is guided by a thematic approach using Atlas.ti 8 software. This paper describes the results from the qualitative study that consists of three main themes: best practices of a software process, nine software wastes (building the wrong feature, rework, unnecessarily complex solutions, extraneous cognitive load, psychological distress, waiting, knowledge loss, ineffective communication, delay), and six green factors (resources, people, organisational, technical, environmental, technology). The analysis findings indicate that the software industry needs elements of best practices, green practices, and software technologies in each development phase to produce a green and sustainable software process. The advancement of computing today presents technology as an essential factor in green elements to ensure that the software process is constantly updated and always green.