Welcome to the everyday p.m. bypass the podcast.
Where I discuss project management principles for your
everyday life. My name is Ann campea and I'm a
certified project / program manager with a decade of
experience working for healthcare design and
development and Tech Industries. I'm so excited to have you all.
Join me to kick off a new themed episode under the everyday p.m.
umbrella called respectives where I will look back at recent
project management related. Hot topics for the inaugural
retrospective I'm looking back at what we call citizen
development. So what is so citizen
development? I mean, simply put, it's taking
non it. Trained employees and training
them to become software. Developers according to an
article on Tech targets which is written by Jerry liptak and
Lauren Horwitz. The this idea of Citizen
development is where, you know, it's basically a business
process that encourages these non it trained employees.
Like I said, to become software developers using it sanctioned
low code /. No code, which is an acronym L,
CN C platform's to create business applications this
approach to software development enables employees despite their
lack of Of formal education and coding to become citizen
developers. They create and customize,
existing software programs to suit a user specific needs and
improve operational, efficiency within a company.
Now, to get into further details, they go on to highlight
that these L CNC platforms, include the necessary lines of
code. So users simply drag-and-drop
icons to create and update applications.
These platforms simple visual tools, allow different
application, functions to connect components across
business units. Apply actions test to make sure
the programming works as expected and publish the code.
So, we have this concept right of Citizen development and I
remember first catching I on a huge investment.
I believe this was last year when Amazon pledge, 700 million
dollars to Aegis workers to code.
And first what caught my eye obviously was the fact that this
Tech Giant has decided to invest in their employees.
But what, what I found particularly interesting was
this concept of taking some of the workforce that is currently,
you know, in their warehouses And teaching them how to code
now. This is just one of many
training initiatives that Amazon has invested in throughout the
years. This one in particular is called
associate to Tech which is a 90-day program for warehouse
workers who want to learn it skills.
So as published in this article on wired.com by Louis mats Equis
in, Was in nineteen, it describes this associate to Tech
program as a 90-day program for warehouse her co-workers who
want to learn it skills. Amazon, Technical Academy, a
coding bootcamp designed to transition, corporate
non-technical employees into software, engineering roles, and
machine Learning University for engineers who already have a
background in technology, and want to gain machine learning
and AI. Kills noticeably absent, our
programs that would specifically prepare Amazon's Workforce for
climate change and the shifting energy landscape as article
article would go on to discuss. But you know there's something
really interesting here about your in a position like Amazon,
who is really struggling to, you know, keep up with the hiring of
all of the, the talent that they need.
So why not? Look at the talent you currently
have And see what you can do to help develop these workers.
Now there's something really positive there, right?
In terms of, you know, giving the this opportunity for these
warehouse workers who are looking for something new or
would like to just grow into a different position, you know, it
obviously gets them out of their minimum wage jobs and hopefully
into some full-time corporate positions.
I know many of the openings at Amazon.
For these types of positions, the article goes on to say are
within the corporate office in Seattle Washington.
So you know, there's there's even low relocation
opportunities there. If these workers are able to go
through the program and trained successfully to become these
citizen developers. But this whole concept is, you
know, to me at least very new and there are definitely some
positives and negatives. When you consider this.
So, Fast forward to about three weeks ago and Yad send apathy
and I apologize to you had. If I have pronounced his name, a
totally butchered his name there.
But definitely a fan of the of you had in his business.
He is the founder and CEO of PMT.
I again, I may have discussed this with my friend Johnny, as
we were talking about PMP exam in a previous episode, but his
company focuses on helping folks, Study for and passed
various examinations including the project management
professional certification exam. So what he had posted on
LinkedIn, three weeks ago, caught my eye as did the Amazon
article about two years ago now, and he listed out the benefits
that he thought were relevant to Citizen development.
So in his post, yeah, it says, project managers are
progressively contingent on technical To generate positive
outcomes and to accelerate the efficacy of work citizen
development and powers of project managers by providing
right the right tools to drive the right outcomes.
Are you still wondering why citizen development is critical
to Future project managers? And he goes on to list, the
following four benefits, which are the number one facilitates
digital transformation. Number two organizational,
Innovation number three, accelerates productivity.
And number four lessons, A burden of the IT team.
And for those again, that are not aware of what citizen
development is. I think we discussed it upfront
in this podcast, but he also outlines, you know, this, as
kind of being an emerging or new trend in project management and
understanding how you would be able to unleash the potential in
within your organization. To allow these non non it.
Trained employees to become software Developers, So with
that being said, you know, it's what's really interesting here
is, I do see the positives of being able to invest in your own
employees, take them through this training and then bring
them back, you know, in two different positions within the
company that will obviously allow for the Innovation and the
growth of some of the Strategic objectives especially for
companies like Amazon where, you know, it's very tech-driven,
right? So I absolutely see the pros, I
love that you had points. You know, one of the biggest
Pros is reducing the burden on it.
Departments, I think that's fantastic.
I think for most of the companies I've had exposure to
or have, you know, obviously acquaintances and companies.
What I hear is definitely the, it departments face, you know,
difficult and surmounting issues.
Obviously, as technology advances the, it departments
also have to keep upright. There's new software.
There are just just new types of development.
Arms. And so, I can imagine that right
by having these citizen developers step in and do some
of the more basic coding for them, that it will free.
The, it departments up, who for those who are actually trained
in technology to be able to focus kind of on, so much of
those larger organizational goals to maybe build out.
Much more of the platform and do some of the more really detailed
and Technical. Work that they typically don't
just don't have the time to focus on so I can definitely see
the benefit there. It could be as Jerry and Lauren
point out in their article in Tech Target, it could very well
be cost effective for the company, right?
So, you know, you create a large pool of employees that you're
able to kind of share around into the various departments
within the company again, going back to the example of Amazon,
which is a humongous company, right?
Right. Where if you have this ability
to take your warehouse workers and give them this opportunity.
Now, you've got this large pool of employees who are now
qualified to help with the it related work, and maybe a great
approach to reduce the need for it professionals and the related
costs. As, you know, obviously it
increases the technical understanding of everyone within
the citizen developer community. So then we go into this idea of
focus collaboration to provide efficiency and productivity
where needed across these types of projects, right?
So if you're able to implement an LLC NC platform, what that
will allow for is this this platform that gives you the
Simplicity of coding? The platform will allow you to
use existing code to speed up the creation of the apps that
are existing and really What I hear and again I haven't had a
chance to play around with a l CNC platform is that it just
makes, you know, changing the code faster.
It's very simple user-friendly. And as the company of olives and
tries to keep up with the various releases of a software,
for example, these citizen developers can go in and help
complete the work that would typically fall onto the IT
department. So absolutely see all of these
as death. Finally being positives for
citizen development, both within this article on Tech Target.
Yeah, point out the positives here, but we should also talk a
little bit about potential negatives to Citizen
development. So, as I learned more about this
topic, it's definitely interesting to understand if
there are any downfalls here. And I think the first one that
came to mind, when I learned of whatever this is, is how is the
quality of the coding going to be, right?
So you've got these Who have gone to school for many, many
years to learn software development and definitely not
trying to Discount the hard work and experience that goes into
that role. And now you have folks who are
going to go through, for example, a 90-day program, at
Amazon to learn simple coding, it makes me question.
The quality of the work in some ways, if it Can be done.
If it can be executed, obviously it will take an investment from
Amazon to ensure. Not only are the employees
trained but they're trained. Well, that this 90-day program
includes everything that they would need to know to learn
basic coding. And is, is this enough to kind
of sustain some of the work that Amazon is, you know, so
desperately in need of talent to be able to fulfill.
I think that's the big question mark there.
And we'll the work of these citizen developers live up to
What the quality of work would have been if it was done by your
you know, highly skilled Went to went to school for many, many
years. So highly educated software
developers who have spent their lifetime, you know, in this
field I would I would I would assume that the quality will be
on par if anything, right. I would assume that the program
is going to give the employees enough.
And obviously if the employees are Passionate enough to learn
and invest in themselves. Just the time and the and the
work needed to learn then you could definitely get the quality
to be at least at a point where it's acceptable on that it can
help further the goal of what citizen development is really
trying to progress. The other thing I would want to
understand and it could be it could be a potential negative
here as you know, as as technology changes.
Is and things are constantly changing.
Will these citizen developers be able to keep up with the pace of
the revisions that are required to ensure that these apps and
software will be up to speed, right?
So that so that as technology changes that these citizen
developers are also keeping up with the pace.
I think another question mark goes there.
So I think this idea is is relatively Renew and forgive me
if I'm just, you know, kind of late to the party here, but this
idea of Citizen development can absolutely be a big benefit to
companies who like Amazon can't seem to keep up with the speed
at which they need to hire and acquire talent, to help in these
big Tech projects. And so, as project managers, I
think the question mark for us and as we kind of consider how
this is applicable to our everyday lives is You know, as
project managers at least when I started I thought every project
manager needed to know technology and I thought we had
to be trained because most of the products are most of the
jobs that you see online are these it p.m. roles.
And so with this idea of Citizen development, it begs the
question of now, you know, more than ever these non p.m. roles
can prove to be much more relevant in this software.
Development space because now you're helping these non it.
Trained employees work together and collaborate and maybe it
just gives us peace of mind that, you know, all of us.
Don't technically need to be technical for lack of a better
way to say it. So just food for thought as we
learn what citizen development is and how this can impact some
of those, you know, big Tech giants like Google and Amazon
and Apple on it and such. So more to come.
As we kind of see this emerging Trend in project management.
I'll be interested to see how many companies, kind of latch on
to this idea and consider in putting the money back to invest
in its own employees. And hopefully, you know, we are
able to reap the benefits. Not only for those employees who
are looking for a way to grow their capacity and grow within
the row. Roll or absolutely jump into a
new role, but I'm curious to see the impact of Citizen
development, even the the project management space.
And if that creates a bigger scope for us, right, especially
us, non it, trained non-id, train project managers, who are
more and more having to go into this this setting where we have
to work with all types of employees, whether you are not
it, or it training. And us being the glue to be able
to connect all of the dots between.
So I would love to know your thoughts as you listen to this
first episode of retrospective under the everyday p.m. podcast,
umbrella. Let me know if you've heard of
Citizen development, I'd be curious to hear.
If you are someone who has actually participated in the
program and become became a citizen developer and maybe you
work at it. About a company that has a
citizen development program. I'd like to hear more on that as
well. Well, that will do it for this
inaugural episode of retrospectives.
Thank you guys for listening to this week's project management,
Ali related, Hot Topic, citizen development will live.
Visit to know your thoughts for those that want to chat more
about it. You can find me and follow me on
LinkedIn. Also, make sure to visit the
everyday p.m. podcast on the anchor platform or A podcast
platform you may use we are on Spotify, we are on Stitcher at
Google podcast. Apple podcasts all of the
podcasts and platforms as well as visit the everyday p.m..com.
There's a lot of good information on there.
A lot of posts on project management related topics and
some of these emerging Trends as well.
So that will do it for me. I'm an campea.
Thank you for joining the everyday things podcast.
And until next time, take care.