Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability in software development suggests that solutions are cost-effective. The customer’s budget should not be experimented with. Instead, the tools and solutions that genuinely best suit the customer’s operating environment should be selected. Developing features sustainably involves progressing in small stages and resourcing each stage of the project appropriately.
In terms of economic sustainability, the expertise of software developers also plays a key role. A group of less experienced coders may complete the first version of the product quickly, allowing the company to initially save money. An experienced team is more cost-effective in the long run, though, as experienced developers will be able to consider the further development and maintenance needs of the product from the very beginning. In doing so, precious resources are not wasted on continuous rewriting and correcting a code that is difficult to maintain.
In addition, we need to think about the time the end-users have to spend on the system. For example, if a system in place is temporarily unavailable, the lost time can lead to enormous financial losses. If the system is not designed to handle a spike in visitors, it makes the system practically unusable. In this case, the financial losses can be calculated in minutes, during which the users have not been able to access the service. The system is less likely to crash if it has been built with sustainability in mind. Investing in careful construction will, therefore, pay for itself multiple times in the long run. For these reasons, we must constantly consider how we can create software systems to best secure stakeholders’ long-term investments from financial risks.