If “Citizen development” is the answer , then what is the question ?
When you want to build a house , requiring services of a construction professional is common sense , but when looking for a backyard cabana, the scenario is different ; and it is not all construction projects that require a structural engineer , so why we should need dedicated solutions architect and/or software developers for each IT project even for non-complex use cases ?
Citizen development could be seen as agile on steroids as it push collaboration to next level, and it allows to quickly deliver value.
CD can also help organizations to unlock creativity of their employees, and keep them engaged. Who never faced a process that could be automated, but was discouraged by how long it may take to implement the solution ?
PMI CDBOK(Citizen Development Body of Knowledge) defines a citizen developer as “Someone who can build applications without coding knowledge , but usually with the support of IT”.
Let’s quickly go through 5 potential questions that can be answered by CD(Citizen Development).
Question # 1 : How to shift left for more security and better quality ?
COVID-19 changed how all organizations are running their business, and IT operating models have to follow the movement. It is great to ask business teams what are their pain points, and help them to address those issues, but it could be better to proactively give them tools to resolve current and future problems.
To maximize value and improve quality, many recognized software engineering approaches/paradigms such as agile and DevOps use “shift left” practices , those methodologies recommend to empower people across organizations, remove silos , discover issues earlier , and deliver value quickly.
Question # 2 : How to fight shadow IT ?
In any organization, “Shadow IT” is unavoidable, it comes with uncontrolled costs , and most of time , it creates additional security risks. With cloud adoption , we will be seeing “Shadow Cloud” that may have negative impact to long-term enterprise strategy , and generates more problems than what it will help to solve.
We have to remember that with cloud shared responsibility model , many traditional IT tasks are now on CSP side ; but for all service models ( i.e. SaaS , PaaS , IaaS) , compliance and data governance is still organization ( i.e. cloud consumer) responsibility , and when internal security teams have no idea of cloud services/products being used, they cannot fulfill their mandate, and organization face unknown risk.
Question # 3 : How to speed up digital transformation , and let IT focus on complex initiatives ?
Most of time , IT teams have more projects than capacity to deliver, and sometimes prioritization exercise can be a challenge to IT leaders.
Hyper agile SDLC(Software Development Lifecycle) recommended by PMI can help organizations to get started with a new way of delivering IT Solutions.
For some organizations, estimating ROI ( Return of Investment) of citizen development adoption may not be an easy task , but if both current state and desired state are well identified ; and right metrics(i.e. average time to get a solution, IT time spent to low risk/no-complex project, increase of. automation, etc….) are used , estimated improved efficiency may be significative within less than 2 years .
Question # 4 : How to shorten release cycle ?
It has been demonstrated that cross-functional teams deliver quicker , better , and more than several specialized teams. CD allows organizations to reach next level where business SME can be empowered to implement solutions that they need for processes automation.
Using visual tools , non-IT professional can build entreprise grade apps that they need , and those applications would be available across the whole organization .
Question # 5 : How to achieve organizational agility ?
Giving business unities power to build quickly solutions tailored to their needs allow employees to learn, innovate , and have a “think-out-of-box” mindset.
Process re-engineering methodologies such as Lean or Six Sigma could be building blocks that help organizations to focus on what really matters, and boost productivity; and CD can add more value by giving staff tools they need to automate improved processes.
Key takeaways
· While CD can help Organizations to modernize their IT practices; to do it right, better governance is a must .
· PMI CDBOK can provide guidance to get the ball rolling.
· There are many mature low-code/non-code platforms that can be used as enterprise solutions.
· For low risk/no complex applications, relying on classic lengthy software development is not sustainable.
· CD can be one of key foundations of digital transformation in any organization, and it provides cost-effective approach to get solutions fast.
