Real-World Citizen Development

1. Summary

Who can forget the reworking of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in Disney’s 1940 classic Fantasia? In this salutary tale, Mickey Mouse discovers to his joy that he can make two brooms out of one, then three, then four, and so on. His smiles quickly turn to panic when he realizes he cannot control how many brooms are created, nor what they do.

And now, we have citizen developers, who can harness the power of low-code and deliver innovation to their organizations. The idea of citizen developers, and their relationship with low-code in all its flavors, is not new; indeed, it’s been on the board for at least five years. So, what’s changed?

Ultimately, like so many technology categories, low-code has reached the point where it needs to scale to deliver on its broader potential. Citizen development cannot mean uncontrolled development for a number of reasons, not least is that (as Mickey Mouse so neatly illustrates) uncontrolled anything leads to chaos.

Thinking more broadly, fears around such chaos can also get in the way of innovation as executive decision makers are hesitant when it comes to adopting low-code approaches or empowering their people to deliver innovative solutions.

The response, as you will see, is one of balance between enablement and good practice. In this report, aimed at technology leaders, business and process analysts, operational managers, and indeed, those looking to innovate and become citizen developers themselves, we consider the role of citizen development. We also mean to set out how to deliver on its potential in a way that marries shorter-term success with sustainability.

We cover:

• The relationship between low code and citizen development
• Core principles of sustainable rapid delivery
• Steps to building a citizen development practice

We conclude by setting out how organizations can ready themselves for low code in general, and citizen development in particular, in a way that maximizes effectiveness without increasing business risk.