That said, juggling multiple projects is genuinely riskier. You can’t get that track record of success without a refined approach that best fits rapid results despite uncertain requirements. You cannot continue to treat every project like a custom work of commissioned art. Application Factory Approach Earlier, I mentioned a more factory-like, low-code development approach. This is in direct contrast to the “studio” concept of traditional development, where each application is a unique, stand-alone custom effort. A factory, in contrast, is focused on sustained output. This is hard to achieve with custom code efforts, but low-code tools and platforms are well-suited to this approach. The application factory philosophy regarding development projects is best explained with five principles. Continuous Improvement The DevOps crowd understands that you get more done by releasing quickly and refining regularly. I’d go so far as to say that users and stakeholders find it much easier to critique imperfect (albeit pretty good) applications compared to having to thoroughly envision everything they want in advance. You get more done when you quickly get minimum viable product prototypes into the hands of users, and then add features and functionality based on direct feedback and usage. You need the speed of low-code tools/ platforms to be able to do this. This continuous improvement not only addresses the “imprecise” nature of business requirements mentioned above, the planned evolution and changeability becomes a feature when requirements change during a project. Not all low-code solutions are change-friendly, but the ones that are, are invaluable. Consistency If you’re trying to deliver three applications and each of them becomes a unique effort, you’re effectively doing three times the work and requiring three times as long to deliver. From a consultative perspective, that could equate to more money – but it can also equate to a “no.” If instead we could have these applications follow an established set of conventions regarding interface, process, database calls, documentation, reporting, etc., each additional application takes a fraction of the time to develop. Moreover, you’re much more likely to get the opportunity for the fourth, fifth and sixth application. The customer also gets another benefit: useability. When applications are consistent instead of being unique flowers, users find it easy to come up to speed on how to use them. The less context-switching, the better. This is not to say that creativity isn’t important, but being creative for its own sake when it comes to breadand-butter business applications isn’t useful. Most of the time, it’s better to be clear than clever. There are – and should be – special-purpose applications that warrant custom treatment, but that application backlog involves a lot of applications that need to be built more than they need to be special (and, in fact, will never get built otherwise). Platform Reliance Prolific producers don’t fight with their tools; they master them and frame their handiwork in terms of what’s possible with those tools. When it comes to application development, this means focusing on the desired outcome as opposed to any particular approach to achieving it. In other words, what do the users/stakeholders actually need versus any one mental image of how it might look. Some (not all, perhaps not even most, but certainly multiple) low-code 14 CHANNELV ISION | MARCH - APRIL 2023 Source: WEBCON; Vanson Bourne EMERGENT ... application backlog involves a lot of applications that need to be built more than they need to be special ...
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