Software Sustainability: The Challenges and Opportunities for Enterprises and their Researchers

Patricia Lago
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Presented at: PoEM 2021
Software Sustainability
The Challenges and
Opportunities for Enterprises and
their Researchers

The S2 group @ VU Amsterdam
I/O Magazine, Issue 3, Dec. 2020
s2group.cs.vu.nl

The S2 group @ VU Amsterdam
• Software Architecture Design for Digital Sustainability
• Architectural Technical Debt
• Software Energy Footprint
• Robotics Software
• Software Engineering and Ethics
• Software Adaptation
s2group.cs.vu.nl

Highlights of my journey in Software and Sustainability
2015
ICSE SEIS
MASTER'S TRACK IN
COMPUTER SCIENCE
SOFTWARE
ENGINEERING
AND GREEN IT
WWW.VU.NL/COMPUTERSCIENCE
2012 2020 2023
Sustainability chair
2022
2014
Inaugural
lecture on
“software and
sustainability”
2016
SC chair

Collaboration opportunities in
Higher education, research- and professional training
MASTER'S TRACK IN
COMPUTER SCIENCE
SOFTWARE
ENGINEERING
AND GREEN IT
WWW.VU.NL/COMPUTERSCIENCE

“LIKE PERFORMANCE, RELIABILITY, SECURITY,
SUSTAINABILITY DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN
UNLESS WE PLAN FOR IT.”
Patricia Lago @ 2016 Inaugural speech

What is software sustainability? Why architecture?

Perspectives on Sustainability
Dimensions Order of effects
UN Sustainable
Development Goals
DIRECT IMPACT
(technology)
ENABLING IMPACT
(supported processes)
SYSTEMIC IMPACT
(change in behavior)
https://sdgessentials.org/why-
the-world-needs-the-sdgs.html
REBOUND EFFECTS
(negate intended impact)
Technical
Environmental
Economic
Social

What is software sustainability?
Direct impact
(sustainable software)
Inward looking
SOFTWARE-INTENSIVE
SYSTEM
ENERGY EFFICIENCY MAINTAINABILITY
STABILITY
Indirect impact
(software for sustainability)
Outward looking
SOFTWARE-INTENSIVE
SYSTEM
TRUSTABILITY
USABILITY
DIGITAL INCLUSIVENESS

Why software digital architecture?
DIGITAL
ARCHITECTURE
SYSTEMIC IMPACT
ENTERPRISE
organization à communities
CONTEXT
partnerships à multi-sector
BUSINESS
economic à ecologic
Digital transformation is
blurring the lines between
digital and physical

An example with Decision maps: conferences
(*) for the sake of the presentation some concerns are over-simplified
1 M. Funke and P. Lago (2021), “Let’s start reducing the Carbon Footprint of Academic Conferences”, Technical Report VU Amsterdam. Under Submission.
2 Lago, P. (2019). Architecture design decision maps for software sustainability. In IEEE/ACM 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software
Engineering in Society, https://tinyurl.com/DesDmaps
SUSTAINABILITY
IMPACTS
FEATURE
CONCERN

An example with Decision maps: conferences
(*) for the sake of the presentation some concerns/effects are over-simplified
2 Lago, P. (2019). Architecture design decision maps for software sustainability. In IEEE/ACM 41st International Conference on Software Engineering: Software
Engineering in Society, https://tinyurl.com/DesDmaps

IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
The journey toward software sustainability
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
Build successful & repeatable sustainability practices
How to bring Sustainability in your Organization
GREEN LAB
SUSTAINABILITY
ASSESSMENT
FRAMEWORK

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koomey's_law
Back to the future © 2015…
Know – Measure - Scan
Hardware
Energy-
unaware
software
Hardware optimizations are
negated by software
inefficiencies [cf. Wirth’ Law]
[The energy efficiency potential of
cloud-based software: A US case
study. TR Berkeley, California, 2013]
Labels tell how much energy we
will consume with that product,
and influence our behaviour.
John Koster
Director Software Development ASML
“Technology changes frequently, but software
stays for 10 to 20 years.
The challenge is to make sure that when we
change the software it will just improve.”
[ICT.OPEN 2015]
Challenge #4: should we cope with variability or
manage stability?
15

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koomey's_law
Back to the future © 2015… to now…
Know – Measure - Scan
Hardware
Energy-
unaware
software
Hardware optimizations are
negated by software
inefficiencies [cf. Wirth’ Law]
[The energy efficiency potential of
cloud-based software: A US case
study. TR Berkeley, California, 2013]
Labels tell how much energy we
will consume with that product,
and influence our behaviour.
John Koster
Director Software Development ASML
“Technology changes frequently, but software
stays for 10 to 20 years.
The challenge is to make sure that when we
change the software it will just improve.”
[ICT.OPEN 2015]
Challenge #4: should we cope with variability or
manage stability?
0740-7459/19©2019IEEE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 | IEEE SOFTWARE 79
REQUIREMENTS
Editor: Philippe Kruchten
University of British Columbia
pbk@ece.ubc.ca
SOUNDING BOARD
ACCORDING TO RECENT estimates,
computing and communications could
account for 20% of energy usage glob-
ally by 2025.1 This trend shows no
sign of slowing. The annual growth in
power consumption of Internet-con-
nected devices is 20%. Data centers
alone are now accounting for more
than 3% of global emissions. Even if
you are not worried about this trend
on the mega scale, you are likely con-
cerned with the power consumption
of the devices in your pocket, on your
wrist, and in your ears.
Software, hardware, and network
attributes all contribute to power
usage, but little attention has been
given to this topic by the informa-
tion and communications technol-
ogy (ICT) community. For example,
as software engineers, we were never
taught to consider, much less man-
age, the energy consumption of the
software systems we created. Despite
our lack of awareness and prepara-
tion, we are now facing an undeni-
able reality: the software community
must learn to design for, monitor,
and manage the energy usage of
software. For this reason, we argue
the need for energy-aware software
and present a manifesto describing
nine guiding principles. By energy-
aware software, we mean software
that is consciously designed and de-
veloped to monitor and react to en-
ergy preferences and usage. Energy
efficiency is, therefore, one possible
(but not the only) response to being
energy aware.
This manifesto and the principles
it proposes have arisen from our ex-
perience and from the experience of
more than 100 researchers and prac-
titioners who have participated in
six international workshops on the
engineering of green and sustainable
software.2 Why do we need a mani-
festo? Why now? Although there has
been some attention to this area,3 we
believe it has been grossly insuffi-
cient given the high stakes involved.
The vast majority of practitioners
(and researchers) are completely ig-
norant of energy concerns; they, and
the programs they create, are any-
thing but energy aware.4
The Nine Principles
of Energy Awareness
Energy awareness is a necessary but
not sufficient precondition for en-
ergy efficiency. Energy awareness
is required from all stakeholders,
such as end users who may choose
product A versus product B based
on energy characteristics. Our goal in
this manifesto is to call for changes
in how we think and what we do.
This will not come for free, but we
believe that the cost of inaction is
far greater.
Public Awareness Is Key for
Widespread Adoption
We believe that the key to widespread
adoption of energy-aware software
is to sensitize and empower end us-
ers. The scary statistics regularly
published have proven ineffective so
far (the amount of energy being con-
sumed by ICT, the increasing amount
of energy consumed by cloud provid-
ers, the massive amounts of data be-
ing stored in data centers as opposed
to the negligible percentages of data
being actually used, and so forth).
Neither do the worrisome energy-
consumption predictions seem to spur
us to action (such as the increasing
number of things being connected to
the Internet or the booming growth
in mobile devices and their increas-
ingly sophisticated applications).
We need to turn these alarming
trends into an opportunity: 1) to sen-
sitize end users to the amount of en-
ergy consumed by the software they
use and 2) to create awareness of
A Manifesto for
Energy-Aware Software
Alcides Fonseca, Rick Kazman, and Patricia Lago
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MS.2019.2924498
Date of current version: 22 October 2019
Betts, T., Cummins, H., Bryant, D., & Stiller, E.
(2021, April 19). Software Architecture and
Design InfoQ Trends Report—April 2021. InfoQ.
Alcides Fonseca and Rick Kazman and Patricia
Lago. (2019). A Manifesto for Energy-Aware
Software. IEEE Software, 36(6), 79–82.

IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
The journey toward digital sustainability
[national and international sources]
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS

Why should I do it?
MARKET
SHARE
BELIEFS I HAVE TO
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS

Why should I do it?
MARKET
SHARE
BELIEFS I HAVE TO
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
ADDED VALUE FOR THE BUSINESS + INTRINSIC VALUES THE COMPANY BELIEVES IN

The Horizon of Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Scenarios
Data
traffic
Energy
aware
Software
Flexible
Distributed
IT + Energy sectors
Flexible
Disaggregated
Dynamic
Prioritization
Verdecchia, R., Lago, P., & de Vries, C. (2021). The LEAP Technology Landscape: Lower Energy Acceleration Program (LEAP) Solutions,
Adoption Factors, Impediments, Open Problems, and Scenarios. https://tinyurl.com/leap-tech-landscape
LEGEND:
- Promise
- Characteristic
EXAMPLE: A CLOUD-BASED SOCIETY
20

Reflection point IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
1 R. Alidoosti, P. Lago, M. Razavian, and A. Tang, “Ethics in software engineering: a systematic literature review,” 2021, under submission.
2 Moyer, A. :. K., Mingay, S., & Watt, S. (2021). Leading Sustainability Ambition, Goals and Technology in the 2020s. Gartner.
ON STAKEHOLDERS ON FLEXIBILITY
3-level stakeholder analysis: indirect ones = critical yet forgotten
The BIG assumption, and
challenge, is flexibility

IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
What does it mean?
A SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION
“an airline company” Example (2021)
Lago, P. (2019). Architecture design decision maps for software
sustainability. In IEEE/ACM 41st ICSE, https://tinyurl.com/DesDmaps

IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
What does it mean?
A SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATION
“an airline company” Example (2021)

What are the main Open Problems hindering action
Lack of policies, KPIs,
ACTIVATING STRATEGIES
Need for COORDINATED
CHANGE, and leading
champions
Lack of KNOWLEDGE and awareness
Verdecchia, R., Lago, P., & de Vries, C. (2021). The LEAP Technology Landscape: Lower Energy Acceleration Program
(LEAP) Solutions, Adoption Factors, Impediments, Open Problems, and Scenarios. https://tinyurl.com/leap-tech-landscape

Lago, P. © 2016-2018 SoSA: A Software Sustainability
Assessment Method. Available at: https://goo.gl/HuY6tf
Condori-Fernandez, N., & Lago, P. (2018). Characterizing
the contribution of quality requirements to software
sustainability, Journal of Systems and Software, 137, 289-305.
Why digital architecture? choosing the dimensions of focus
(Software) sustainability is cross-
dimensional
Lago, P. et al (2020). Designing for Sustainability: Lessons
Learned from Four Industrial Projects. EnviroInfo.
https://tinyurl.com/fourcases
AI-assisted desk workers
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
25

Why digital architecture? choosing the dimensions of focus
(Software) sustainability is cross-
dimensional
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS

(Software) sustainability is measurable only over time
Why software architecture? making decisions that last

(Software) sustainability is measurable only over time
Why digital architecture? making decisions that last
Condori-Fernandez, N., & Lago, P. (2018). Characterizing the
contribution of quality requirements to software sustainability, Journal
of Systems and Software, 137, 289-305.

Reflection point
ON PRIORITIES, AND SCOPING
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
Sustainability demands a totally-new perspective
of the business priorities
Scoping must set the boundaries over time (across
multiple projects) and space (new types of stakeholders)

What does it mean for me?
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
• A sustainability goal à one or more
questions each regarding a
sustainability-quality (SQ) concern
GOAL à How to make neighborhoods safer?
- By engaging the citizen in informing the
police of criminal situations like suspect of
robberies
WhatsApp
Neighborhood
Prevention
30

IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
WhatsApp
Neighborhood
Prevention
1: the original plan
2: the measured impact
sustainability goal à
max safety, min criminality

IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
WhatsApp
Neighborhood
Prevention
1: the original plan
2: the measured impact 3: the corrected plan
sustainability goal à
max safety, min criminality
max social cohesion + police guidance

Reflection point
1Procaccianti, G., Lago, P., Vetrò, A., Méndez Fernández, D., & Wieringa, R. (2015). The Green Lab: Experimentation in Software Energy Efficiency. In IEEE/ACM ICSE.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSE.2015.297
HOLISTIC VIEW TRENDS OVER PRECISION
We understand real impact only
over time and space
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
Precise measures depend on too many
specific variables; trends help identifying
patterns hence energy (or sustainability)
hotspots1

How can I build true impact?
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
• A sustainability goal à one or more
questions each regarding a
sustainability-quality (SQ) concern
• The measures of the SQ concerns
express the effects
• The variation (or trend) over time
expresses the impact towards
the sustainability goal

Decisions based on a (quantifiable) informed strategy
Renewable Energy Provisioning: Sharing IoT assets
[Vandebron]
Sustainability Goal = {
• Balance Energy prosumption
• Maximize Trust
• Enable positive behavioral
change }
35

Remember the example: a sustainability model for scientific
conferences
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po i i e
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ON-SITE VIRTUAL HYBRID
Sustainability Goal = {
• Minimize carbon footprint
• Max knowledge transfer
• Balance ICT investments }

Condori-Fernandez, N., Lago, P., Luaces, M. R., & Places, Á. S. (2020). An action research for improving the sustainability assessment framework
instruments. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(4), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041682
A Checklist to help define the
elements of a DM
The Decision Map (DM) to help explore
the design space and make decisions
The SQ dependency matrix to
help identify the dependencies
among DM elements
The Decision Graph to help
assign the right impact
timescale to DM elements
The Sustainability-Quality (SQ) Model to
define concerns and measures
The SAF Toolkit

Who will make it possible?
IDENTIFY
VALUE
GATHER
AWARENESS
DEFINE
STRATEGY
SETUP
INFORMED
DECISION
MAKING
APPOINT
CHAMPIONS
AND
WARRIORS
champions warriors
communication
skills
competences
Images: @ Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2

Thank you
Credits: slides, ideas and results are a collective effort with my
bright and energetic colleagues in the S2 Group
@Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam s2group.cs.vu.nl
Download our papers from the S2 VU Research Portal
Check out what we teach: s2group.cs.vu.nl/pages/courses
My virtual presence: www.patricialago.nl

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