How Digital Product Managers Can Champion Green Practices

With a recent return to the job search journey, I found myself taking a deeper interest in the companies publishing the opportunities and their commitment to sustainability. The growing consumer and employee demand for eco-friendly practices is undeniable, and it's clear that businesses are recognising the importance of minimising their environmental footprint. This piqued my curiosity – how can digital product managers, whose creations mainly exist in the cloud, contribute to this movement?

Beyond the Physical: Rethinking Sustainability for Digital Products

Traditionally, sustainability focuses on tangible products and their life cycle. However, digital products also have an environmental impact, largely due to the energy consumption of data centres and user devices. The below graph shows that the 2 largest culprits emitting the most greenhouse gases are data centres with 45% and communication networks with 24%.

As a digital product manager on the job hunt, seeking companies that align with my values, I wanted to understand how they were integrating sustainability into their product development process. Here's how digital product managers can champion sustainability:

• Energy Efficiency: Focus on creating code that is optimised for performance. This reduces the energy required to run the product and minimises the environmental impact.
• Green Hosting: Advocate for partnering with data centres powered by renewable energy sources like wind or solar.
• User Behaviour: Design features that encourage responsible user behaviour. This could include automatic shut-off functions, data compression techniques, or functionalities that minimise unnecessary processing power.

Building a Sustainable Digital Ecosystem: Practical Steps

• Life Cycle Thinking: Consider the entire life cycle of your product, from development and ongoing maintenance to user data storage and eventual product retirement.
• Accessibility and Inclusivity: Sustainable design encompasses not just the environment but also social responsibility. Prioritise inclusive design practices to ensure your product is accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. This promotes digital equity and minimises the need for multiple devices catering to different needs.

Collaboration and Transparency: The Keys to Success

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work with developers, designers, and user experience (UX) professionals to identify and implement sustainable solutions throughout the product development process.
• Transparency with Users: Educate users about the environmental impact of digital products and provide them with tools to minimise their own footprint. This could include in-app features that track energy consumption or tips for data-saving practices.

Metrics and Advocacy: Measuring and Encouraging Change

• Track Your Impact: Integrate sustainability metrics into your product roadmap. This could involve measuring energy consumption, server efficiency, or user data storage optimisation.
• Be a Change Champion: Advocate for sustainable practices within your organisation. Present data on the environmental impact of digital products and highlight the business benefits of sustainable design, such as cost savings and enhanced brand reputation.

Challenges and Overcoming Them

• Balancing User Experience and Efficiency: Finding the right balance between user experience and energy efficiency can be tricky. User testing and iterative design are crucial to ensure a smooth and sustainable product.
• Data Security and Privacy: Sustainable data storage practices must prioritize data security and user privacy. Explore anonymisation techniques and secure cloud storage solutions.

Digital product managers play a vital role in shaping a more sustainable digital future. By prioritising energy efficiency, user behaviour, and responsible design principles, we can create products that minimise our environmental impact and empower users to be part of the solution.

More on digital sustainability, https://www.unsustainablemagazine.com/digital-sustainability-guide/