No Code and Low Code Tools are Changing the App Development Landscape

Today, I'm diving into a topic that's not just a trend but what I believe to be a game-changer in the app development world: No Code and Low Code tools. These tools are reshaping how we create apps, and I'd love to share our experiences and insights from experimenting and adopting some of these technologies at DreamWalk.

The Efficiency Revolution

No Code tools, when chosen and leveraged correctly, can be totally groundbreaking.?

Imagine significantly reducing development effort and timelines while still delivering top-notch apps. As an agency, that’s what we strive for every single day; we either continue to do more with less or we risk losing out to our competitors.?

That's why we started exploring No Code and Low Code tools, to become more efficient at building great software. After a lot of experimenting, and numerous mistakes early on, we're now seeing firsthand the incredible benefits that are possible when leveraging these technologies; including shorter delivery timelines, higher client satisfaction, and improved profit margins.

Embracing Both Custom Development and Low Code

Now, let's debunk a myth. You don't have to choose between custom development and Low Code/No Code tools. At DreamWalk, we've found the greatest success from combining these approaches - specifically combining custom front ends (built in React Native) with a No Code backend, striking a perfect balance of flexibility and delivery efficiency without compromising on polish or scalability.

Our mantra is simple: tailor the technical architecture to fit the project's needs, leveraging Low Code/No Code solutions as appropriate.

A few recent projects where our clients have benefited from this combined approach are:

VegAssess: a tablet app designed to assist ecologists efficiently collect, manage and present ecological field data.

Pocket Punter: a mobile app that provides punters with curated horse racing tips from a leading Australian analyst.

ConnectED: an innovative health and wellbeing assessment tool to determine the likelihood you have certain rare conditions like Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).

Overcoming Resistance and Changing Developer Mindsets

One of the biggest challenges we are all facing in adopting these technologies is the resistance from our developers. Our team has always taken pride in crafting custom solutions. However, embracing No Code tools requires a shift in mindset.

Many traditional developers don’t like the idea of using No Code tools, as a big part of their identity as a Software Engineer comes from ‘writing code’. We’ve had comments from our team such as “Using No Code tools is career suicide” and “This application needs to be built using a real backend” - implying that a No Code backend is not a ‘real backend’.

The reality is that using a point-and-click interface to build software is often less fulfilling for developers. Additionally, many believe that they lose some ‘control’ when they don’t have access to see and edit the code themselves.

These are not concerns to be dismissed, but rather we need to work with our developers to overcome these obstacles as this new approach to development becomes the norm.

At DreamWalk, we’re now working hard to create a culture where our developers see themselves as problem solvers, not just 'coders'. It's about empowering the team to utilise a mix of custom and Low Code tools to create exceptional apps.

This change won’t happen overnight, but I’m confident we’ll get there.

Not All No Code Tools are Equal

In our journey, we've learned that not all No Code tools are created equal. Initially, we opted for tools that seemed the most user-friendly or most widely used by the No Code community but soon realised those aren’t always the best platforms for delivering on our clients’ needs. With the wrong tools, we found that quality was hard to achieve, some functionality wasn’t possible to build and compromises needed to be made. This made it very difficult for us to manage our clients’ expectations, who have very high standards for the apps DreamWalk produces.

We’ve since spent a lot of time evaluating tools on the market, and have found that the best tools for us and our clients are those that offer the most flexibility, even if that means the learning curve for our team is steeper. We need the flexibility to deliver our clients’ complex and unique requirements.

Today, we prioritise tools like Xano , a powerful and scalable No Code backend builder. Xano is 'Turing complete', which means it offers all of the same capabilities as traditional programming languages. This ensures we never have to worry about finding out half way through a project that we can’t deliver the clients’ requirements.

Xano is a tool I’m personally very passionate about and that we’ve been leveraging at DreamWalk for the last few years. Not only do we use it to power our own internal billing and reporting systems, but it’s the No Code backend we’ve used to deliver numerous of our clients’ apps (such as VegAssess, Pocket Punter, and ConnectED linked above). With a custom React Native front end and Xano in the backend, we were able to achieve the perfect synergy of a polished user interface and scalable architecture for these apps.

In addition to powerful backend solutions like Xano, there are now excellent No Code front end tools available. These tools provide an alternative to building custom front ends, delivering quality apps efficiently. Some notable options include:

FlutterFlow : A full-featured mobile app builder producing Flutter code.

Draftbit : A robust mobile app builder generating React Native code.

WeWeb : A comprehensive web app builder creating Vue applications.

While we’re not yet ready to abandon traditional React Native development at DreamWalk, these front end tools are great options we consider for early stage startups, when the client is on a tight budget or needs to get to market very quickly.

Why Early Adoption of Low Code Matters

The industry landscape is rapidly evolving, and those who embrace No Code technologies early gain a significant advantage. Startups are increasingly requesting No Code solutions for their MVPs, recognising the efficiency and cost-effectiveness. If we didn’t start adopting these tools, our clients would go elsewhere.

Even SMEs and Corporate clients, burdened with a huge backlog of software requirements, are turning to No Code/Low Code platforms. One of our prominent clients, a leading law firm here in Australia, have adopted OutSystems (a Low-Code Application Platform) and witnessed a remarkable increase in speed and efficiency of delivery - so much so that they’ve significantly reduced their investment in custom development.

The moral of the story is that if you adopt Low Code / No Code technologies too late, you’ll be left behind.

The Future

I firmly believe No Code is the future of software development. It's not just about point-and-click interfaces; it's a paradigm shift towards efficiency, flexibility, and innovation.

At Dreamwalk, as we continue to evolve, we'll stay true to our commitment to delivering top-tier apps using the best tools available - and now that toolset includes a variety of Low Code and No Code options.

No Code and Low Code tools are reshaping the app development landscape, and agencies need to be at the forefront of this revolution. By integrating these tools into our workflow, we've witnessed faster delivery times, happier clients, and more profitable projects. Whether it's leveraging Xano's powerful backend or utilising No Code front end tools like Flutterflow and Draftbit, we're committed to delivering excellence.

So there you have it, folks! The future of app development is here, and it's called No Code.

Happy coding (or should I say, No Coding?).