We have heard of software developers but who are citizen developers? And what skills do the citizen developers possess? Moreover, should you be hiring citizen developers?
Find all the answers and more about citizen developers.
Who is a Citizen Developer?
A citizen developer is a person without formal training in software development who develops software using low-code or no-code platforms. These developers usually work under the IT department’s supervision to ensure that the end product meets the expectations.
There are plenty of no-code platforms that help with citizen development. Citizen development is a boon for those who understand their businesses well and know when it requires an update. Of course, the pre-requisite for the developer is logical prowess and problem-solving capability.
Why is Citizen Development on the Rise?
With citizen development, you can efficiently manage the growth and accelerate the launch of new products and services. It allows professionals, the key to the business, to create solutions necessary for the end-users successfully.
The citizen developer can efficiently manage and align business goals to the technology goals.
- Increased Expectations: The leaders expect their businesses to perform exceptionally well in the transforming era. For them, technology should match the footsteps with their requirements. Citizen development empowers the in-house resources to maneuver the applications to their business goals.
- Unavailability of Resources: If you want to make your overall processes efficient and the business strategies unique, you need resources. With ever-increasing demand, your IT department is overwhelmed and developers remain irritated that their pipeline is overloaded. By democratizing the development process, the burden on your IT team will decrease and enable them to work more efficiently.
- Furthering Digitally: One of the main reasons to add Citizen development to your business would be to encourage digital growth. With the IT revolution, everyone wants to have in-house automation to accelerate the output. The usage of low-code platforms will help you increase digital efficiency by 50%-90%.
What are the Benefits of the Citizen Developer Movement?
If you are planning to adopt the citizen developer model, then here are a few benefits that you are sure to experience.
- Rapid Customization
Are you looking for personalized solutions to manage your requirements? You no longer need to depend on professionals with coding expertise. With citizen developers, you can efficiently develop apps that your employees need. With these rapid solutions, you will align your business goals to IT goals and improve the bottom line significantly. It allows you to respond to the growing needs of your organization rapidly.
- Shares the Burden
It was always the IT team acting responsibly for all your business requirements. If you wanted to add an application or enhance the infrastructure, you had to connect with the team.
Citizen development method allows you to share the burden with the team. You can grow and nurture applications using the no-code platforms and grow from strength to strength. It also allows the IT team to concentrate on core models and help with business growth and scalability.
- Better Agility
Businesses need to be agile in modern times. If you are slow to adopt recent trends, then you stagnate your growth. With citizen developers adding to the resources that you have, you can identify broken processes faster and repair the links better.
If you want to add a new function or upgrade the procedures, the citizen developers can share the burden of the IT team. This agility will not only empower your teams but also boost your business effectively. Eventually, it impacts your employee as well as customer experiences.
- Competitive Advantage
When dealing with cut-throat market competition, you need an advantage over the others. You can quickly speed up development and leverage citizen developers to create apps that are high-quality and engaging. With this, you can reduce the time-to-market for your applications and outperform your competitors.
- Efficient Teams
Citizen development allows you to engage your workforce. By engaging citizen developers in your development process, your teams will perform more efficiently as the work will be spread out across more number of people.
Also, non-developers will have more autonomy over their work and will be able to fulfill their own needs. As a result, productivity goes up, and you have a satisfied employee on-board. It also impacts the work done in a day for your business.
Managing Citizen Developer Governance
With citizen developers and your software developers working on the same applications, it can get difficult to track and monitor their performances and the overall progress.
As a result, you need to identify self-governing practices and bind the developers into a single unit. The organizations will need to standardize the rules of citizen development to build an efficient system.
As an outline, we are suggesting a governance protocol that you can use in your organization. It will help build trust within the teams, identify the right platforms, and conclude with efficient planning.
1. Define your Vision
Why do you need a citizen development model for your business? How will they work using this model? It would be best if you remember that citizen developers are not tech experts. They will be crafting solutions with their regular jobs. As a result, you need to envision the process and also how it will help them. The vision will technically help them know when to approach this model and what to expect.
2. Craft a Centralized Hub
When you are diving into citizen development, you will notice that everyone around you can create an app. As a result, it becomes chaotic to manage so many solutions.
A centralized hub will not only regulate these applications but also help with the management. They will also responsibly lay down the protocols and guidelines for creating software solutions. It helps keep track of the tools, the applications as well as the training provisions.
3. Identify the Right Tools
There are plenty of no-code platforms available in the market. You need to identify the one that most suits your purpose and can help you achieve your objective.
4. Train the Users
You must train your citizen developers on how to go about using the tool. One easy way to go about the training is to guide them to build an MVP of the app without coding in the initial training stages. The training phase can also help in weeding out unfit candidates for the job.
5. Define the Process
How will the citizen developer start developing using this tool? The answer to this question will help you document a process. Will they begin with identifying the requirements of the application? Will they acknowledge the hidden gaps?
What will be the next step? What about the deployment? Who all will be involved in the deployment and maintenance?
A defined process will ensure that there are proper steps and people involved in developing and deploying applications.
6. Focus on Security
Security is a significant concern when developing an app using no-code platforms. Involve your IT teams to focus on the security aspects. Along with access-based security, make sure there are fewer chances of bugs hitting the platform.
Choosing the Appropriate Tools
When you plan to incorporate citizen development into your business, you must find the right tools. The developers will not be trained experts, which is why these points will help you find easy-to-use and hassle-free solutions.
1. Low Learning Curve
The tools that you have identified should be easy to learn and use. Keep the learning curve as low as possible, as the users may not be tech-savvy. You will be training them into these tools; however, it will not be as intensive as you believe. That’s why you should engage in intuitive interfaces and tools.
2. High on Security
If you are developing applications to boost your business, you also need security to control its access. You don’t want your secure data to be hacked. As a result, identify platforms that are secure and enable access-based logins.
3. Cross-Platform Capabilities
You need to make sure that the citizen developers can access the application across multiple platforms. As a result, it is imperative to choose a low code platform with cross-platform functionalities.
Conclusion
A citizen developer is a unique opportunity for businesses to scale their development process and enable the IT team to focus on tasks that truly need their expertise. Citizen developers can build custom applications that pose to be the need of the hour using no-code platforms. It enhances business agility and improves the overall efficiency of your business.
It’s time businesses adopt this method to enhance their business scope and seek growth. While it frees up your IT team of resources, it also offers you a competitive edge with existing resources and in a cost-efficient manner.
