#65 Embracing citizen development, Unlock innovation, encourage employee engagement and drive...

4 Jan 2023 · 43 min
43:03

In this round‑table episode of the Process and Automation Podcast, host Sascha (joined by co‑host Arno) brings together a panel of experts – Gerald Pullen (Technology Delivery Director, Go Beyond Partners), Lee Edwards (Co‑Founder & Director, Smart Automation), and Chris Pearce (VP Customer Success, Innate/Enate) – to explore citizen development. The discussion begins by defining a citizen developer as a non‑IT employee who uses low‑code/no‑code platforms (often likened to LEGO) to build applications, bots, and workflows without writing traditional code. The panel outlines why citizen development matters now: rapid change, talent shortages, the need for speed, and the ability to capture ideas that would otherwise be stuck in IT backlogs. Benefits highlighted include faster delivery, increased innovation, employee empowerment, talent retention, and cost savings. Risks such as shadow‑IT, governance gaps, and technical debt are examined, with emphasis on establishing guardrails, a Center of Excellence (CoE), clear RACI responsibilities, and end‑to‑end process thinking. A practical framework is presented – aligning with corporate strategy, assessing business context, selecting appropriate technology, building a CoE, defining responsibilities, and considering the full process lifecycle. The conversation also covers the growing relevance of citizen development for both large enterprises and smaller businesses, the expanding vendor landscape, and the cultural shift required for success. The episode concludes with a look to the future: exponential growth, broader adoption across organization sizes, and the importance of cultural readiness and coordinated governance. Listeners are directed to a supporting white paper and the Automation Guys community for hands‑on experimentation.

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