There is plenty of hype around the term Citizen Development and the role of Citizen Developers. We know that the term might be new but the concept is not. Matt Hubbard, Head of Operational Excellence at TrackVia, Inc., shares tips, tricks, and methodologies to sustain your Citizen Development initiatives beyond simple Proof-of-Concept apps. Prior to joining TrackVia, Matt co-founded his own consulting firm specializing in business process management and low-code technology. The core of Matt’s mission is his belief that process, technology, and people must be optimized together to achieve a lasting result.
We asked Matt about:
His journey to becoming a Citizen Developer
How to move beyond simple PoCs to a sustainable CD program?
What does he like about Project Management Institute's Citizen Development Framework?
Advice for companies dipping their toes in the Citizen Development world
So I often preach, never automate a crappy process unless it's your goal to produce crap faster.
As Benjamin Franklin said, Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.
It's important to think through processes before flipping the automation switch.
Citizen Developers are, they are problem solvers. If you are one who is okay with the way things are today, you like coming in, doing your job, checking the box, and going home, then I would probably say Citizen Development is not for you.
I thought, why can't we do that with business applications? Why can't we have a platform that already exists, like the home console for Atari?
Process problems and system problems are kind of ubiquitous. They kind of exist at every company. And, this app-building platform, which would later be categorized as low code, no code was back in play. And to make a long story short, I started learning the platform and building my own apps. I'm not a coder; I'm a process person.
I think one of the reasons why it didn't scale for me is that I didn't approach Citizen Development in partnership with IT and executive leaders.
I have a mantra that I followed when I ran my consulting business and I adhere to it today, and it's called Think Big, Start Small Scale Fast.
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