21. Remove non-essential features from the scope
Why does it matter?
Think Minimum Viable Product (MVP) here. We know that eliminating non-essential features reduces the cost of your project, streamlines development, reduces product bloat, reduces storage costs, and minimizes technical debt and environmental impact. While this is a challenging task, the benefits for your users, business, and the environment make it incredibly worthwhile.
Ultimately, what is good for the environment is good for your users.
What can I do?
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Prioritize user stories using the User Story Mapping technique (range reduction)
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Imagine an MVP, V1, and V2 of each story (depth reduction)
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Split your user stories into different releases
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Keep only the must-haves
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Regularly review and reassess feature relevance
What does success look like?
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🧑💰 Accelerated development cycles emphasizing efficient resource use
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🧑💰 Enhanced user experience leading to improved conversion rates and overall satisfaction
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🧑💰 Reduction in maintenance costs, reflecting efficient design and execution
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💰 Optimization leading to reduced cloud expenditure
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💰 Rigorous data security measures ensuring compliance and protecting user trust
Things to consider
Try your best to be critical about why you include user stories in the MVP: What would happen if you removed a user story from the MVP? Would the user experience or business goals be drastically damaged? If not, you may remove it from the scope. Celebrate the removal of non-essentials as a win. It’s a win for your users and the climate.
Finally, keep in mind the 3 U’s rule. Is the feature going to be useful, usable, and used? This should help you to include only features you have high confidence in. If your company already uses MoSCoW Prioritization, you can modify it by ordering features by climate impact within each category (must have, should have, could have, wish to have).
Also, because we all know perfection doesn’t exist, you will still have the opportunity to Kill unused features. However, this is not an ideal approach and will come at a price for your product, the business, and the environment.