Is the Citizen Developer a Good Idea?

The low-code/no-code revolution, associated with tools like Microsoft PowerApps and Power Automate services, has led to the emergence of so-called “Citizen Developers.” This term refers to company employees who are not formally employed as application developers but engage in development as a side activity to assist themselves or their department with a task or process.

Generally, this can be considered a positive aspect as it can promote a culture of innovation and potentially improve business productivity.

However, there are reasons to be cautious when promoting the idea of citizen development within your organization:

1. Productivity Loss?– If you have hired an accountant to perform accounting tasks, do you really want them spending most of their time trying to develop a new application? It’s common to hear citizen developers discuss how many YouTube videos they’ve watched to accomplish Task A. This may not be the most efficient use of your employees’ time.
2. Maintenance Issues?– Over time, systems will require updates as new versions of the underlying software are released. Organizations may find it challenging to maintain these small applications, especially if the creator has left the company without leaving any documentation.
3. Quality?– Citizen developers are primarily learning on the job. Their applications may not necessarily be developed according to best practices and often contain bugs, resulting in unreliable applications.
4. Security Risk?– Applications created without proper oversight of security protocols can lead to security breaches.
5. Integration Issues?– Often, these applications do not integrate well with existing systems, causing compatibility problems.
6. Governance?– Applications developed by citizens generally do not align with any of the organization’s standards or best practices.

Years ago, when applications like MS Access were popular many companies had employees creating little databases that then become critical to their business. Then the more powerful Excel got the more employees had their own spreadsheet that tracked some kind of process. So the Citizen Developer in some ways is just a rebranding of something that has always been going on.

There is no doubt that engaging businesses users is crucial to the development of any new application, but whether they should actually be spending their time creating and supporting these applications requires careful consideration.

?