The world is changing. Citizen developers are becoming more relevant than ever before because they help enterprises use technology to their advantage so they can see the results of their efforts faster and more efficiently.

This guide provides tips to help citizen developers continue learning, growing, and developing their skills in 2023 and beyond!

Tip 1: Don’t bypass IT.

If you're a citizen developer and want to develop something fast, don't circumvent IT just because it can slow things down. Instead of avoiding them, go through their process—and involve them!

You should integrate your application with IT to get help and advice concerning its use. If your app is going to be used by more than one person, the IT department can advise you on how best to make changes or add new features before they are implemented in production systems so as not to interfere with other users' workflows.

Tip 2: Choose your Citizen Development platform wisely.

Suppose you want to create a successful citizen development project. In that case, it is essential that you pick the right low-code development platform with the right features and functionality to meet your requirements. It should also be easy to use, primarily if it's being used by non-technical users who don't have extensive coding experience. It must offer high levels of support for those using it daily to resolve all issues as quickly as possible without impacting productivity or workflow processes.

Tip 3: Learn the foundation and best practices of Citizen Development.

As citizen developers, you need to understand the foundations of citizen development and learn how they can be deployed effectively in the organization. It will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure that the project succeeds.

If you need to become more familiar with these foundations and best practices of Citizen Development, many resources are available online, like the PMI Citizen Developer Foundation Course. You can also check the PMI Citizen Developer Practitioner (CD-P) course, which offers downloadable application development templates and a citizen development suitability checklist.

Tip 4: Don’t ignore the Project Management aspects of Citizen Development.

Citizen development empowers Project Managers by giving the people involved in projects the power to innovate, accelerating innovation and putting it into action immediately, reducing operational expenses, and increasing project satisfaction. With citizen development, project managers can consider taking matters into their own hands with low-code and no-code technology solutions that they can implement themselves.

For example, suppose there's a particular functionality requirement in one of the projects on your plate. In that case, whether it's for an application or process—you could quickly use low-code/no-code tooling to build it out so that you're not waiting months (or longer) while waiting on IT to come up with something through traditional means.

Tip 5: Educate yourself about Security and Governance aspects.

Organizations have different ways of managing security and governance; some have an IT governance process for citizen development, while others choose platforms like AgilePoint, which is developed with operational and platform security as its core pillars. An organization may have a robust governance setup where it chooses an enterprise-ready Citizen Development platform and imposes its corporate IT standards on the platform vendor and in-house Citizen Developers to ensure stringent guardrails are in place. As such, AgilePoint combines built-in safeguards with administrative controls.

Either way, it's vital that you understand the security issues related to citizen development and how they affect your organization. Moreover, you must ensure that your organization has systems and processes that implement best practices around security and governance.

Tip 6: Start small and scale gradually.

If you're serious about creating a citizen development program, start small and scale gradually. Focus on projects that are smaller in scope or budget, and involve a limited number of employees and departments. Within a department or project, discover and experiment with different approaches to find the right one for your company's needs. Then roll out gradually so business leaders can develop a strategy for expanding such programs throughout the organization.

As you scale, remember that it can take time for employees to adapt to new working methods. Be patient and flexible as you introduce new policies, processes, and tools to the organization.

Tip 7: Get trained and seek help.

If you’re a citizen developer, join the reskilling/upskilling program or online courses for citizen developers. It will help bridge the knowledge gap and ensure that you are well-prepared for your role as a citizen developer.

You can also seek help from other citizen developers, IT and security teams, vendors, or service providers.

AgilePoint NX Getting Started Training is an online, self-paced course that provides a quick overview of the platform's enterprise-class low code/no code software automation capabilities. With this, you can get insights into the fundamentals of automation, including how to apply it across your organization.

Tip 8: Understand the unique value propositions of your Citizen Development platform.

Before you decide which low-code platform is right for your organization, you must know how they work and what features they offer.

As companies look for ways to innovate, improve their business processes, and save time and money, a citizen development platform with robust features can help them achieve these goals.

A citizen development platform's value is its simplicity of use, ability to scale up as needed, and ability to evolve with changing needs over time as an organization grows or changes direction with new products or services being developed.

Tip 9: Incorporate reviews and metrics.

Reviews and metrics are an essential part of life as a citizen developer, and they help you get feedback on your work, which is vital for improving and refining your skills. You can also use them to identify opportunities for improvement in your projects or even see what other people think about specific features or designs you've created.

While reviews are a great way to get feedback on your work, it's essential to also look out for metrics. Metrics can be used to measure the usage of a particular feature or design and help you identify any pain points in an existing implementation.

Tip 10: Update your digital solutions as needed, and build a maintenance process.

As technology changes and evolves, it's essential to keep up with the pace. You can update your digital solutions and build a maintenance process. It will allow you to quickly identify issues and fix them before they become more significant problems down the road. It also helps ensure that your solutions are still relevant in today's world.

Lack of maintenance regime is one of the leading causes of not being able to scale your Citizen Development initiatives. Lasse Rindom, a subject matter expert, about process automation and the importance of solution maintenance in this podcast titled "Enterprise RPA and its scalability." 

Additionally, you should build a maintenance process that includes regular updates, bug fixes, and security patches. It will help ensure that your solutions are always up and running, so they don't break down at an inconvenient time..

Key Takeaway

We hope this guide has helped you understand Citizen Development in 2023. The world is changing, and we're all going to have to adapt if we want to thrive. But the good news is that it's not as scary as it might seem—and now that you've got the knowledge, you can be a part of the change.

If you want to begin automating your business, AgilePoint offers a free trial so that you can try out its latest functionalities and templates. Once your free trial ends, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for more features and support. Sign up now!