What is a Citizen Developer?
Citizen development enables non- or semi-technical workers to become a type of software developer that creates business tools or applications.
According to Gartner, a citizen developer is someone who “creates application capabilities for consumption by themselves or others, using tools that are not actively forbidden by IT or business units.” Gartner also wisely points out that citizen developers are not “a persona, not a title or targeted role. They report to a business unit or function other than IT.”
Citizen development enables non- or semi-technical workers to become a type of software developer that creates business tools or applications. These citizen developer creations can be used to meet a user’s specific needs and improve a company’s operational efficiency.
There has been massive growth in this arena over the past decade as “no-code” and “low-code” development tools have grown and matured. These tools enable non-technical users to create applications as soon as ideas emerge, and their benefits can grow exponentially when combined with advanced data analytics.
Are you a citizen developer? Do you have citizen developers in your business?