Before App development, assess and validate your idea

Citizen Developers ?are changing the way we think about App development and software delivery. It is clear that with the right tools and governance, nonprofessional developers can contribute to the SW strategy of an organization, reducing the IT shadow risks and being compliant with the overall strategy of the organisation. Considering that "by 2024 at least 65% of all new business applications will be created with toolsets such as low-code and no-code application development platforms" (Gartner), the need for governance in the massive acquisition of these tools seems to be impending.

Citizen Development Canvas

The Citizen Development Canvas is a framework that guides a Citizen Developer ? practitioner from the very moment when an idea appears until the App is developed, having the confidence that it is aligned with the organization, and empowered by IT. For Citizen Developers ? in more managerial or lead roles, the Canvas helps understand and design the operating model and all requirements needed for Citizen Developers ? to be aligned with the organisational strategy.

Suitability Assessment

Today I want to share about the suitability assessment and how it is comprised of various tools, crucial to determine which Apps or ideas are suitable to be developed by Citizen Developers ?. As you can see, this assessment is on the practitioner's side of the Canvas, and this is decisive when deciding the relevance of an idea.

When you have an idea, for example, you want to redesign the way you gather information, automate the way you contact customers or replace an actual way of working with new App development, you have to be sure that you do not violate any legal constraints in your organization, that you count on with IT′s approval and that you are aligned with the overall business strategy. The suitability assessment set of tools help you in this with its different set of tools.

Assess and validate your idea. You could do so, with different tools

• Score cards evaluate the proposed solution by asking questions to assess if the project is a valid candidate for a CD approach
• Risk/technical grid helps you identify the level of IT commitment needed in the development of your App.
• Environmental checks help you assess whether the organisational requirement of your App could be fulfilled or not.

Could you imagine the strength of your App development if before starting with it you know that it is business compliant, risk concerned and that IT′s degree of involvement has already been specified and accepted?

Please, leave your comments and experiences with Apps development without (or with) a previous suitability assessment. Which could have helped you most?