The Basics of Citizen Development

The concept of citizen development has been gaining popularity among the people, companies and government institutions. This is largely due to the emergence of many different types of governance models and the importance of creating a strong social and ethical culture.

Citizen development is a term used to define the creation of applications, computer programs, or online tools by citizens (non-professional developers) for their own use. It holds particular importance in the fields of civic Tech and Open Government as it allows engaged citizens to develop or modify an application or process with the goal of improving participation and collaboration within their local communities.

Citizen development enables anybody of any skill level or technology background to make a valuable contribution to civic society through problem solving, collaborative design, and app development. With the instruction and tools that are available for free online, many ideas can become realities regardless of the experience level of the user. In this increasingly connected world, empowered citizens can be more actively involved in community projects and support democratic values through citizen development.

This article will take a brief look at the origins and the scope of the concept, as well as the threats and benefits to it.

Origins of the concept

Citizen developers are users with access to visual, integrated development environments. This allows them to assemble an interface without writing code. In addition, they can drag and drop application components to create unique applications.

Using a citizen developer can help a company speed up its development cycle. This can be important, especially as businesses continue to expand their digital capabilities. It also opens the door to more talent.

Citizens can be used to make small scale solutions, like an app for your sales team, or an enterprise-wide digital solution. They can even be used to change your existing business applications. With citizen developers on board, you can ensure that the technology you choose is aligned with the goals of your business.

Scope of the model

The Project Management Institute defines Citizen Developers as those who don’t have formal coding knowledge but are nevertheless able to perform basic tasks such as building an app, delivering a service, or automating a process. They are typically supported by IT professionals.

One of the biggest advantages of using Citizen Development is that it allows business users to build applications without the cost and headache of hiring a team of IT professionals. This allows organizations to leverage existing resources to create a competitive edge.

However, it’s also important to consider the risks involved. These include not only the risk of developing bad applications, but also the risks of allowing business users to develop solutions without oversight. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the impact of these risks.

Governance model

Whether you’re considering a citizen development program or are implementing one already, it’s important to understand the basics of citizen development governance. Without effective governance, your program will fail and you’ll lose valuable productivity.

In order to avoid these problems, your IT team should actively lead the entire app development process. They should also create processes and monitor applications to ensure quality and compliance.

In addition to this, you need to implement an approval process that protects the security of your applications. This will help you ensure that apps built by citizen developers adhere to established security standards.

Moreover, it will ensure that you receive the highest ROI on your citizen development investments.

To achieve this, you’ll need to consider the right technology. This must complement the people pillars of your development program. In particular, you’ll need to make sure the tool offers visual assets and workflow management. In addition, it must enforce compliance and deliver business value.

Impact on business processes

Citizen Development is a process whereby non-technical workers build automated solutions for business processes. This can improve productivity and efficiency. It can also improve agility. This is important because in today’s fast-paced environment, businesses need to release new products and services faster.

Citizen Development allows organizations to meet these demands without putting more work on their IT team. However, some companies are hesitant to adopt this type of development. These concerns include security risks and data loss. But if done correctly, these tools can promote more productivity across the organization.

The key to making this work is proper planning and governance. By establishing guardrails and an app repository, you can avoid unnecessary risks. This can reduce the frustration of dealing with IT teams. It is also important to train your employees on the use of these tools.

Threats to the model

With the rise of digital literacy and the demand for agile digital solutions, businesses have a greater need for citizen developers. Citizen developers can help companies meet this demand by speeding up the development cycle and providing more user-friendly applications.

However, this development model has its downsides, and businesses need to consider the risks involved.

The rise of this new development model has led to a corresponding increase in security vulnerabilities. As a result, enterprises must take proper measures to protect their data and secure their systems.

In order to avoid these security risks, IT teams must create and maintain a governance strategy. This strategy is a combination of policies and procedures to ensure that citizen developers follow standard practices and processes.