5.11 Follow a product management and maintenance strategy

Materials: High
Energy: High
Water: High
Emissions: High

Explain through documentation how projects will be maintained, managed, resourced, and note issues while tracking measurements over time.

Management and maintenance: Machine-testable
Produce and maintain documentation to outline how the organization approaches product management and maintenance.
Planning strategy: Human-testable
Establish maintenance and security plans for all digital products and services.
Resourcing products: Human-testable
Appropriately resource products over time via staffing and budgeting to support code refactoring, address technical debt, introduce new product features, test functionality, and produce product or service maintenance plans to continue supporting customers, users, and other affected parties.
Resource measurement: Human-testable
Incorporate carbon and resource measurement into maintenance programs and show measurable improvement over time.
Failure indicators: Human-testable
Identify and document Key Failure Indicators (KFIs) and implement resolutions to prevent negative sustainability impacts.

Economic
Maintaining performance can boost customer retention, and organizations with clear product maintenance and management practices tend to benefit from greater resilience in the face of digital disruption.
Environment
Implementing product management and maintenance strategies provides another opportunity to improve climate resilience and manage and reduce emissions over time.
Performance
Following good product management and maintenance strategies means affected digital products and services benefit from better security, reduced technical debt, and improved data privacy.