Values implemented: Embedding resilience into the developer to embed sustainability into software

Abstract: Busyness seems to be a badge of honour in a large part of our society. Yet, it doesn’t lead to long-lasting satisfaction with achievements or even to a sustainable pace of life but instead to burnout or creeping exhaustion and loss of quality of life. This is true for software engineers as much as for many other professions. Still, as software engineers, we carry the responsibility for the systems we develop – and those happen to run the world. Also, we see an accumulation of wicked problems globally, from ocean acidification to species loss and extreme weather events and social inequality and civil unrest. All of these examples are different dimensions of sustainability. As designers, we unconsciously embed our values into the systems we develop. While we see the wicked problems, we may often feel rather overwhelmed by the idea of relating that to our own design work, especially if it comes to adding more steps into an already tight development process.  So, how are the values of software engineers embedded in their designs? And how can they embed sustainability principles into them?

Bio: Birgit Penzenstadler is faculty at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Lappeenranta Lahti University of Technology, Finland. She has been researching the relationship between sustainability and software engineering for a decade. Software systems inform and shape our future, and consequently, software engineering holds the key to transitioning towards a sustainable global society. Her recent research focuses on how neuroplasticity practices can support improving their presence, creativity,  and overall resilience.