How to Become a Citizen Developer

A lot has been written about the benefits of citizen development. But not much has been written about what kinds of skills are required for citizen development or how someone can become a citizen developer. This resources covers:

What is a citizen developer?
Do citizen developers matter?
Who can be a citizen developer and what makes a good citizen developer?
Who should manage citizen development and citizen development governance?
Examples of apps built by citizen developers
What is the best software tool for citizen developers?

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Citizen developers typically use different kinds of tools than traditional IT, and they approach programming in a different way as well. Rather than use traditional programming techniques, they use citizen developer platforms, typically low-code/no-code tools. Because they don’t work for IT, and instead are business experts and domain experts, they approach problems from a business point of view. So they generally don’t write enterprise applications, and instead, write apps that solve highly targeted business problems.

Do these new app creators matter? Yes they do. IT is under intense pressure to deliver solutions for digital transformation and process automation. At the same time there is an enormous shortage of skilled developers to work with business users to build business applications.

It’s simple. Without formal training, these new users can do their own problem solving and build applications that take pressure off IT. These workers can solve the problem of companies not being able to hire enough professional developers, make sure that the right apps get developed quickly, and reduce cost and improve productivity.

Let’s start with the basics: Who can be a citizen developer? To understand that, let’s first take a look at how Gartner defines “citizen developer”: “A citizen developer is an employee who creates application capabilities for consumption by themselves or others, using tools that are not actively forbidden by IT or business units. A citizen developer is a persona, not a title or targeted role. They report to a business unit or function other than IT.

“All citizen developers are business technologists. However, all business technologists are not necessarily citizen developers. There is no required designation of proficiency or time allocation for citizen developers but they must be legal employees of an organization.”

So, what makes a good citizen developer? The article, “What Is a Citizen Developer?” points to these traits:

A citizen developer recognizes business needs. He or she needs to be able to see the big picture of what’s important to a company, as well as the details of what isn’t working right or needs to be improved.
A citizen developer enjoys learning. The article explains: “Becoming a citizen developer requires taking on new skills, learning new platforms, coding styles, and more. The only people qualified for this type of position are those who are willing to learn and who are capable of being self-taught.”

A citizen developer works with little oversight. Citizen developers need to be highly motivated self-starters who excel at project planning. The article adds, “They need to be able to work independently and produce high-quality, creative business solutions.”
A citizen developer can take constructive criticism. Citizen developers need to be able to accept the kind of criticism that leads to building better applications. As the article notes: “A client or manager may have feedback for you to help you sharpen your performance, allowing you to become more effective. Taking feedback and applying it to your work is an essential skill.”
A citizen developer sells his or her cause. The article explains: “You may need to sell the idea of a citizen development position to your organization or potential clients. The ability to exude your passion for development with a level of sales acumen that makes clear the benefits to the person or organization you are selling it to is essential.”

By definition, these business leaders who build apps don’t work in IT. Instead, they work in departments or other kinds of business units close to the everyday business processes they're trying to digitize. So they need to be directly managed by people in their departments, not by IT.

That being said, however, they must work very closely with IT as well. IT sets enterprise standards for security, integration, quality and more.

For more details about this, download the Complete Guide to Citizen Development Governance.

Businesses need to pay careful attention to this complex relationship between citizen developers, IT, and business units. So corporate standards need to be established. According to the Alpha Software blog post by Amy Groden, “Citizen Developer Governance: How To Manage It”:

“Citizen Developer Governance turns rogue shadow IT projects into secure apps that follow corporate guidelines and policies. IT can ensure data is secure, apps are properly tested, and apps go through an approval process. A clear policy establishes quality control over citizen development. It ensures that app development across the organization is consistent and high quality.

“IT makes sure security requirements are followed, corporate branding guidelines are employed, and apps deliver high quality user experiences on a range of iOS and Android devices. Without governance over citizen development, IT cannot ensure that app performance and security adhere to company standards.”