If you are not doing this, well…..

For 18 years of my career, I was a traditional software developer, one that used logic and if statements to change the world one line of code at a time. I have watched this space branch into numerous disciplines, from mainframe to object oriented to web to mobile to blah blah blah. The role of the developer has continued to grow and evolve and is now seemingly indispensable. Right?

Well, actually, I think the software developer is going extinct. Forrester coined a term back on June 9th, 2014 called low-code and it is radically altering the way we build applications. Using platforms, it is now possible to build complex systems without writing a single line of code. Using a graphical interface and drag and drop, it is now possible to build your database, forms, business rules and workflows. It is as spectacular as it sounds.

My team has been working with a low-code platform for almost 3 years and it is a massive, massive disruption to the software delivery approach. It demands an agile way of working, it changes project funding approaches, it has eliminated the developer from the project team and it delivers applications 75-95% faster than traditional development. And much like a stress test, the next weakest point begins to show itself and it happens to be the mindset of IT leadership.

Spending months gathering requirements to evaluate and find the perfect technology is now a barbarian act. Trying to control every business initiative and blocking citizen development is backwater thinking and crippling your corporation. Funding projects with a one-time massive budget is out-dated and shows a spectacular lack of long term vision. And don’t even get me started on the massive planning, testing and risk aversion to platform upgrades.

At the Forrester Digital Transformation conference in Chicago, they made a bold prediction that 75% of the companies on the S&P will be gone by 2027. Leadership needs to embrace low-code platforms and a new IT mindset that prioritizes speed to market and continuous ongoing system evolution. Failure to do so will ensure the Forrester prophecy comes to pass.

Do you disagree, let me know, open safe collaboration is the best way to learn.

#DigitalTransformation #lowcode #softwaredelivery #developer