What is a citizen developer?

Is a user who builds applications or programs to facilitate business operating processes in a corporate environment. It is not classified as a software professional since it lacks formal programming training, however this citizen developer uses tools that are within its reach such as low-code and no-code platforms, shared services, cloud computing and fourth generation language to perform Developments and build applications that can improve the course of its work.

These citizen developers are constantly looking for ways to build applications that serve as innovations to highly administrative processes that are usually carried out in an excel spreadsheet or database tools. Their work usually is driven by data tracking and workflow or administrative applications.

How Can a Citizen Developer Evolve?

The profile of a citizen developer would be an asset for the IT department in the form of an alliance to lead projects within a company and to promote digital transformation and innovation. However in order to build complex applications that later have to take a much more advanced course the need for design and programming skills is required specially to overcome barriers that may present along the way. Also, it is important to take into account to outline and model the solution first with a set of tools and guides to avoid poor or useless results. Doing it this way can save a lot of time during development stage, as it can be frustrating if it takes much longer than expected.

It is safe to say that citizen developers can be transformed and guided so they can become professionals by embracing new ways of ideation and design thinking that will help them improve their performance to build better products with a higher impact.

Recommendations for better self-built apps

We want to exhibit some efficient recommendations that consist of 6 key steps so that citizen developers can build apps that fulfill their purpose.

Step 1: The big picture

The first approach is to learn about the big picture: What is the main problem that you need to solve? How is it being solved today? Who are the people involved? What are the expected returns by developing a new software solution? Is it for saving money or making money?

Step 2: Commitment

Can you get the commitment from C-Level stakeholders? Can you get enough resources to develop the solution yourself, or would you need external resources? Have you got a budget?

Step 3: Getting started

To minimize the risk of not developing the correct product, you need to model the solution first with sitemaps and wireframes. Sitemaps are created for each user role and the main purpose is to identify the pages with which the user will interact with. On the other hand, wireframes will allow you to model the app itself. By creating wireframes you are reducing the risk of wasting your time. Wireframes are much quicker to do compared to developing databases, pages, and coding. While developing wireframes, you can easily identify possible issues with workflows.

There are a few tools out there that will help you. Here are some that we recommend:

Trello - manage features backlog
Gomockingbird - basic wireframes
Moqups - sitemaps and wireframes
Invision - advanced sitemaps and wireframes
Figma - advanced wireframes
Zeplin - advanced wireframes

Step 4: Development

Now that you have a clearer understanding of your app, it’s time to move to the development stage. At this point perhaps you have identified a low-code / no-code platform that you are going to use to build your software solution. If you haven’t we recommend these:

Knack - great for web applications. It’s also relatively easy to work with, and well priced.
OutSystems - great for web and mobile applications. It has a steep learning curve, and highly priced.
Caspio - great for web development. It’s not as intuitive as others, but once you get a good understanding of it, you can do amazing things.

Remember, low-code / no-code platforms are mainly designed for apps rich in CRUD (copy, read, update, delete), but they may fall short when it comes to the implementation of complex workflows, scalability, and rich interface.

Step 5: Testing

Ideally, functional testing starts with the Development work (Step 4), nonetheless you need to make sure your app is ready for the real world by asking some real users to try the app before it’s available for public use.

Things you need to test:

Validations
Business rules
Desired outcome vs actual outcome
Test with near real data

Step 6: Launch and support

Launching your app to the ‘real world’ is the pinnacle of your work, and you may want to make sure it’s done as smoothly as possible.

Make a copy of your app before the launch
Clean the database from test data
Setup the needed configurations
Make sure any external services are all working properly
Update any domain DNS, SSL, Automated Tasks, Email...

Having a clear and key process to follow will make the difference between short-term growth and long-term competitiveness. Solutions built today must always be viewed as scalable and sustainable to ensure ROI and profit.

Are you ready to learn more about our process !

Let’s Make IT Happen!