Title: Sustainability practices for software development in Scrum environment

Authors: Fernando Almeida

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Department of Computer Engineering, University of Porto & INESC TEC, Porto, 4200-465, Portugal

Abstract: This paper aims to characterise the relevance of sustainability practices in the context of software companies that adopt the Scrum methodology. In the first phase, a multidimensional framework for software sustainability was built, based on the individual, technical, environmental, and social dimensions. Subsequently, a quantitative study was carried out using a survey answered by 397 Scrum professionals working in software companies registered in Portugal. The results reveal significant asymmetries in the implementation of sustainable practices, in which micro companies experience the greatest difficulties in their implementation. The findings also indicate that the practices most adopted by organisations are in the technical and individual dimensions, where a proactive level of maturity is evident. On the other hand, environmental and social practices are still poorly implemented and appear mainly at a reactive level due to the needs of the projects or their teams.

Keywords: software engineering; sustainable software; Scrum; capability framework; green IT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2025.147872

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2025 Vol.18 No.3/4, pp.484 - 501

Received: 13 Apr 2024
Accepted: 11 Aug 2024
Published online: 05 Aug 2025 *

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