Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles

in Enterprise App Delivery

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

Introduction

APPtitude and Its Seven Personas

Key Survey Findings

Survey Methodology

Conclusion

3

4

7

11

13

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 3

Today, every employee in an organization should think of him - or herself as part app developer. That’s not to say everybody will build their own apps. It’s more about empowering every employee to play an active role in app development in order to unleash the creativity of your entire workforce.

To better understand this phenomenon, Mendix released a social survey to uncover information on the various roles within app delivery projects. This report describes the survey and its results.

INTRODUCTION

Ready or not, today’s world is all about apps. Whether for customer facing interactions or for internal business processes, enterprise application development is now at the center of every strategic discussion.

Every company, no matter the industry, must think and act like a software company in order to succeed. The rationale is simple. The enterprise needs a growing number of apps to power business operations and customer interactions.

But IT traditional teams simply aren’t capable of delivering all of the innovative apps the business needs. To keep the business moving forward, professional developers can no longer be the only group building apps.

LEARN WHY EVERY COMPANY IS A SOFTWARE COMPANY

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 4

Your APPtitude describes your role within the app development process. It describes your interest and competency in the application lifecycle.

Within the application lifecycle, there are a variety of important roles that we’ve mapped to seven personas. Upon survey completion, each respondent’s APPtitude persona is immediately calculated and displayed along with a short message. Both persona and message are shown below:

APPTITUDE AND ITS SEVEN PERSONAS

The Programmer“The Hardcore Coder”

Congratulations, it’s people like you who make the app-driven world go ‘round. Notable coders include Marc Zuckerberg and Bill Gates (not bad company, huh?).

The Visionary “Blue Sky Idea Guy”

We’ve got a regular Nicola Tesla on our hands. The sky’s the limit for folks like you, and that’s lucky for us because innovations like the alternating current keep the lights on and the AC cranking!

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 5

APPTITUDE AND ITS SEVEN PERSONAS

The Conductor“Keep the Train on Track”

If it weren’t for people like you, we’d all be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Teams need someone to stand up and crack the whip, and we get the feeling you’re the one for the job.

The Hero “Find a Way or Make One”

When the pressure’s on and time’s running out, you’re a Swiss army knife with an APPtitude to get your team across any finish line. You wear multiple hats, a characteristic that makes you popular when it’s time to pick teams.

The Negotiator “Lean, Mean, Negotiating Machine”

You’re methodical, data driven, and generally have the right answer at your fingertips. You’re easily frustrated when others aren’t as tuned in and won’t tolerate lack of movement around you.

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 6

APPTITUDE AND ITS SEVEN PERSONAS

The Captain “Captain of industry”

We salute you, sir! You set the agenda, keep the ship in top shape, and set the course for future exploration. Your commanding presence keeps the lights on and the apps working.

The Architect “Rubik’s Cube Commander”

You clearly get the importance of structure, but more so, you understand the big picture and can pull the right materials together. In the end, apps aren’t built without your expertise! Keep on solving puzzles, buddy!

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 7

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

The APPtitude survey succeeded in producing more information on the changing roles within app delivery and the overall democratization of the process. We’ve provided information on the breakdown of each persona as well as the two main findings associated with this study.

Respondent APPtitude

The

Archi

tect

The

Capta

inTh

e Con

duct

or

The

Hero

The

Negot

iato

rTh

e Pro

gram

mer

The

Vision

ary

50

40

30

20

10

0

Num

ber

of R

espo

nden

ts

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 8

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

More individuals without traditional programming backgrounds are participating in the application development process.

In other words, app development is being democratized as enterprises look to close the gap between growing business needs and IT’s ability to deliver.

Only one quarter of respondents received The Programmer persona. The Programmer illustrates those individuals who prefer hand coding. We can also conclude that a significant majority of respondents perceive themselves to be app developers, but do not have the same interest or ability to hand code.

First Finding

Programmer Breakdown

The Programmer

Everyone Else

25%

75%

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 9

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

The citizen developer phenomenon is taking hold within the business realm.

According to Gartner’s IT Glossary, a citizen developer is a user who creates new business applications for consumption by others using development and runtime environments sanctioned by corporate IT.

Gartner continues by describing the changes that business and IT groups have made in order

Second Finding

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CITIZEN DEVELOPER

to encourage more ownership across the business.

Low-code development platforms and cloud computing services make it easy for business representatives to participate in application development projects, and even do a significant portion of the work themselves, if they’re so inclined.

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 10

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

Second Finding Continued

Respondent Job Type

Business IT Other

Our survey confirmed the prevalence of these individuals within projects today and also provides insight into specific job roles that this individual may hold.

When evaluating those application developers who likely use low-code methods or play other, non-programming roles in the process, we found that most individuals resided outside of the traditional IT group.

One third of this population have business oriented roles. Within that realm, we found a high volume of project managers, business analysts, and other business management stakeholders.

You also see a significant number of individuals with non-traditional roles, coming from universities, or from the partner ecosystem represented here under the ‘Other’ category.

Combined, we see that IT individuals are actually in the minority, indicating that the citizen developer phenomenon is taking hold aggressively within the business realm.

43%

24%

33%

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 11

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

In July 2014, Mendix launched a global survey to understand the changing roles in enterprise app delivery. The survey targeted tech-savvy individuals who participate to some degree in the application development process. Respondents included architects, analysts, project managers, IT staff members, and business leaders.

Respondent Job Role

Architect

Business Analyst

Business Management

Chairman/CEO/Pres

Programmer

IT Consultant

IT Management

IT Other

Project Management

Other

* Students, Mendix partners, and those who did not share job role information are included within the ‘Other’ category.

42%

3% 3%9%

5%

15%

8%4%

3%8%

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 12

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

Mendix promoted the survey through social channels, targeting relevant media outlets, technical communities, and bloggers. The results are based on a response population of 151 individuals located across the globe.

The survey asked each participant to uncover their role within application development, described as their inner APPtitude. To do so, respondents answered eight, purposefully lighthearted questions.

Each question was created to identify common traits and behaviors that may correlate with the individual’s technical and business ability. The sum of all questions produced an APPtitude score that corresponded to one of seven unique personas.

Respondent Region

APAC Americas EMEA

38%

2%

60%

Everyone Has APPtitude:Survey Reveals Changing Roles in Enterprise App Delivery 13

CONCLUSION

As your business embraces its future as a software company, so will your employees. Everyone is a potential app developer and should be empowered to share ideas and actively participate in the innovation process. In many instances, employees can take those ideas through design and development with the help of visual, model-driven tools (all in accordance with IT governance).

While not all development can be completed by the masses, the move towards democratization of app development will free your business from its dependency on professional developers.

Moreover, it will free the IT group. This much needed time can then be dedicated to addressing more strategic needs as well as focusing on the more technical aspects of development projects, such as integration and performance.

If you haven’t already, get in touch with your inner APPtitude.

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