Get Organised for Low Code
Jim Hamill (Dr)
Director at Future Ready Toolkits - supporting organisations become future ready for an increasingly volatile and digital world.
A recent article on diginomica.com provided a useful overview and advice relating to the on-going discussion about no code/low code platforms, their role in accelerating digital supported transformation; focusing in particular on the need for an agreed methodology and organisational approach capable of satisfying the often conflicting needs of business users and corporate IT - Does no code in the enterprise create more problems than it solves?
For no code/low code to deliver on its early promise of compressing time to value through rapid application development, and to avoid inflated expectations and flawed attempts, a two-pronged approach is required.
To build feasible, desirable, and viable products, business users should start with design thinking, identifying target personas and use-cases. This will deliver an agreed roadmap for embedding no code/low code platforms within the organisation using a human-centric approach.
To avoid a proliferation of uncoordinated initiatives and shadow IT, this needs to be done in close collaboration with corporate IT. While no code/low code can often deliver quick wins, their use can also ‘rapidly morph into messy and ungovernable problems that land on the desk of IT’.
IT needs to remain in control through establishing a lean yet scalable governance model. For this to work, IT needs to embrace its role as an enabler rather than a gatekeeper because ‘the no code story breaks as soon as citizen developers depend on corporate IT in their daily work’.
With IT lacking the bandwidth to support large numbers of power users requiring help with their apps, there is a strong incentive to outsource the development of day-by-day apps. To support this, IT will need to provide the right data sets, application blueprints, micro templates, and application building blocks to kick-start and safeguard the high-volume no code-powered development movement.
With Gartner and Forrester predicting that 65% to 75% of app development will utilise low code application platforms by 2024, it is critical to get this 'fusion/hybrid’ approach right with software engineers and business process experts working together to deliver impactful business solutions and applications.
It is now widely accepted that successful digital supported transformation takes place through small, agile, empowered teams working on projects that deliver value in months rather than years. To support high-performing teams leverage the full potential of low code for accelerating transformation, an agreed collaboration/interaction model is required to dissolve the barriers between IT and the business.
A recent article of our own identified six key roles and levels of responsibility in successful transformation programmes as outlined below and discussed in more detail here - Transforming How Things Are Done Around Here
Figure 1: Six Key Transformation Roles
Source: Hamill (2019)
As always, comments and feedback very welcome.
Take care.
Jim H
Helping UK Defence & Aerospace automate mission critical business processes with intelligent workflow and case-management solutions, delivered through low-code, fast and agile applications.
3 年Thought provoking article Jim Hamill (Dr). I've been looking closely at the low-code sector recently and what I've seen is that there are two types of use for low-code technology that are distinct but often conflated. 1. 'Tactical' low-code tools for quick, agile, basic applications for 'citizen developers' and 2. Enterprise-ready low-code tools that can deal with highly complex mission-critical workflows and case management processes and integrate fully with legacy IT systems. The challenge you highlight is relevant for both types but the solution for each will be different. The first needs a federated approach to governance that can scale with the number of separately designed apps that are out 'in the wild', while the second needs to be centralised but still with the collaboration/interaction requirement that ties-together the user, the developer and corporate IT governance. The only other observation is that the true value of a true low-code solution for Enterprise-mission critical workflows and case management processes is that once deployed, they are responsive to evolving business requirements, and importantly quick and cheap to adjust.
Director at Future Ready Toolkits - supporting organisations become future ready for an increasingly volatile and digital world.
3 年Thanks all for likes. Take care. Jim H
Empowering Businesses through Structure and Growth | Founder of Syncity & Hashiru | Author of "Be The Five" | Helping CEO's Overcome Growing Pains and Align teams for Strategic Growth
3 年A lot of companies I work with don’t even have an IT dept and I wouldn’t let them anywhere near low code platforms yet. For many off the shelf and integrated is more than enough. You really need to find very specific use cases where build is better than buy and then the end user building over IT is a whole other conversation. I think there’s a scale question to be answered first. This seems to be aimed at large businesses!