Why business teams must stay out of application development [Video]

Citizen development enabled by low-code and no-code tools works for apps that are simple, independent, internal, and low-risk. But real apps should be built by real developers.

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In the last 10 years of building WaveMaker, the one thing we always hear are user expectations that low code will miraculously allow business users to develop feature-rich applications. Well, it can, but it most certainly shouldn’t. I’ll tell you why. 

In 2021, Gartner predicted that active citizen developers at large enterprises would outnumber professional software developers 4:1 by 2023. I haven’t seen that happen anywhere, but there are enough citizen development programs to warrant serious critical attention. 

For starters, let’s clarify the idea of citizen development. Citizen development is when non-tech users build business applications using no-code/low-code platforms, which automate code generation. 

Imagine that you need a simple leave application tool within the organization. Enterprises can’t afford to deploy their busy and expensive professional resources …