The objective of Citizen Development is for individuals who are not professional software developers, known as "citizens," to participate in the creation of applications.
It is currently gaining popularity due to the increasing demand for technological solutions within organizations, and this is only possible thanks to platforms that simplify the software development process such as ServiceNow. These platforms allow users to create applications using "drag & drop" without the need for coding. Additionally, we have AI changing the way people work and the skills they need. With proper retraining, non-technical workers whose jobs are affected by AI can assume the technological roles of the future.
But why is this important for organizations? Because the talent you attract and retain is crucial for success. Therefore, empowering and engaging your employees is a way to attract and develop the right talent to create a truly effective and motivated workforce.
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." - Steve Jobs
Thus, we can say that Citizen Development has a positive impact on an organization as it fosters talent attraction and innovation. Since innovation can come from anywhere or any team, companies with Citizen Development programs can stand out as innovative employers. It helps them differentiate from competitors and attract candidates seeking a dynamic and future-oriented work environment.
This is how organizations create a flexible, diverse, and reassignable workforce that can generate maximum value by addressing their most important strategic initiatives. Empowering everyone with the right tools to create necessary employee experiences keeps people engaged, motivated, and loyal.
Citizen Development helps streamline the software development process by allowing individuals with deep knowledge of their environment's specific problems and needs to create customized solutions quickly and efficiently, without solely relying on traditional IT development teams. These developers, among many others, can:
- Create applications or tools specific to their daily work needs. For example, an internal application to manage vacation requests can be developed.
- Automate repetitive tasks or manual processes. For example, creating an automated workflow for posting job vacancies until new employees are onboarded.
- Create tools that facilitate communication and collaboration between teams. For example, an employee can develop an internal platform for sharing knowledge and resources among different departments.
All this leads to increased operational efficiency as bottlenecks and inefficient processes can be identified and addressed quickly.
However, let's not be deceived; Citizen Development also presents challenges in terms of security, maintenance, and regulatory compliance that must be properly addressed to ensure the long-term success of solutions developed by citizens.
