Citizen Innovators - Building AI Powered Super Humans - Second Edition

The democratisation of technology

Democratisation is a term used to describe when a technology experiences exponential growth. Mobile phones were once brick-sized and available only to a wealthy minority. Today, almost everyone has access to a mobile phone with access to more apps then they will ever need or understand. The smart phone and its simple-to -use interface democratised mobile technology.

When Marc Anderson invented Mosaic in 1993, the first truly web-friendly interface, very few websites existed. Roll forward a few years and hundreds of thousands of web sites and millions of web users exist. The power of the web browser was that it democratised web technology.

Now Lo Code | No Code | ChatGPT | Cloud platforms enable non-tech experts to get involved in the development of computer code, graphic design, idea generation, content creation and more.

Many large enterprises see radical change just around the corner but when it comes to digital transformation they often don't seek to get everyone to join in. That is a mistake.

But then again, can everyone join in? Not everyone can play the piano and no one wants a 'citizen dentist' fixing their teeth.

Yet how can organisations look forward to vast improvements in productivity and an improved quality of working life if everyone does not join together to digital transform a company❓

If we accept that everyone can and must contribute to a companies digital transformation then we are left with how.

One option is 'Citizen Innovators'. What are Citizen Innovators I hear you ask?

Citizen Innovators are individuals who create or develop digital applications, tools, or solutions without formal training or expertise in traditional software development. These individuals are typically non-professional programmers, creatives or those who work in roles outside of the IT or software development departments.

Citizen developers often use low-code or no-code cloud based platforms, which provide visual interfaces and pre-built components that simplify the creative and/or application development process e.g., OpenAIs ChatGPT, Canva, Robotic Process Automation, Kapwing, Midjourney, Dall-E and more.

But...

• Will Citizen Innovators become the new normal❓

• Do people want to be Citizen Innovators❓

• Are Citizen Innovators a business risk too far❓

• Do organisations simply need to put the right foundations in place and begin their ‘Citizen Innovators’ journey❓

• Will tech-savvy employees, increasingly aware of the fact that they can have intelligent automation, Generative AI and other low-code applications at their fingertips, wait for others❓ I think not.

For example, one quick web search, a short login and small credit card sequence later, though applications are often free, they can have access to a Canva design studio and do what they need to do in moments.

One excellent prompt in Bing, OpenAI or Bard later and they have the foundations of a marketing plan that they can build upon.

One creative journey later on Midjourney and they have the mock up they need to talk to the external web development company and they have not had to wait for IT or internal marketing.

These tools are used everyday by everyone at home. Work is often different and that is frustrating, counter productive and likely to create 'shadow everything'.

We must recognise that with great power now comes greater risk but that can be managed and mitigated.

Think Samsung's OpenAI leak but with excellent security, instruction, mentoring and governance.

The Next Stage of Digital Transformation

Business today is driven by data and smart algorithms. Software developers now control the world. Across a global employee base, organisations have as much coding and technology talent as likely found in IT departments several years ago. Employees across every business are becoming more technical.

Knowledge workers, with digital DNA flowing through their veins, offer the potential for firms to combine the best of business knowledge with the best of technology. This millennial ‘digerati’ comes with the promise of cheap labour at the fraction of a full time technology professional. New entrants to the workforce no longer wait on IT departments to solve their IT challenges.

The ‘digerati’ are figuring out ways to solve their own problems and their organisation’s customers’ problems without IT help. Progressive organisations are focused on enabling the ‘digerati’ to do that and do it well using Low-code / no-code platforms.

In the next stage of the digital transformation, capable and confident individuals can be modelled to step in, where existing IT teams have failed, to meet development and creative requirements. Capable individuals can help spark innovation and low-code / no-code platforms can help Citizen Innovators explore new solutions to better serve their business’s needs.

If a finance person, a HR expert, or a customer service professional were to be able to write their own software applications, and this was multiplied many times across different sectors of the economy, then businesses could benefit from a potential massive increase in innovation and productivity. 

If multiple individuals conceive, design, and deliver the functionality users need now; then the power of digital and automation can be unleashed across organizations. This will likely not only help to clear IT, marketing, product development backlogs and more but it can also create an internal innovation engine that will drive the future success of an ever changing business.

This all sounds very exciting but to date, organisations have struggled to get Citizen Innovator / Developer programs to work successfully.

Even though I'm currently a citizen innovator in my company, I would play devil's advocate for IT, as they are the custodians of all tech in the company and responsible for this being correct, complete, stable, reliable, robust, safe, secure, scalable, maintainable, and compliant; citizen development can potentially take away control over these parameters, which can place the organization at risk at different levels: from information exposure, to having certain citizen solutions becoming business critical without proper support or relying on single individuals. At the end of the day, the organization has to introduce changes to empower the citizen developers, but also to support them, implementing guardrails that will reduce this risk in probability and impact"

Sergio Cienfuegos Ornia, Head of Business Technology

What is the current status of Citizen Innovators programs?

Citizen Innovators, and Low-code / no-code platforms, are not new concepts. For example, WordPress (established in 2003) has made web development accessible without the need for seasoned web developers. Kapwing, an online image, video, and GIF editing platform, helps non technical business folk design digital stories with easy to use cloud tools that were once the preserve of specialist designers and video editors. OpenAI's ChatGPT has democratised the use of AI for 100 million people and more.

Yet low-code / no-code platforms don’t automatically guarantee success. Many organisations have tried and failed to build ‘Citizen Innovators’ programs. Many organisations simply set their expectations too high, others set them too low.

‘Citizen Innovators’ or ‘Technical Digerati’ are still won't, or shouldn't, develop the next mission-critical ERP system for the company. However, they might just come up with a unique software solution, digital plan or creative idea that solves a particular business problem. 

The current generation of low-code/no-code platforms were unimaginable 10 years ago.

The current citizen development sweet spot is for simple applications that are stand-alone, low risk and not mission-critical. But as Low-code / no-code platforms develop, organisations increasingly find themselves in a world where they can give ‘digitally capable’ individuals the ability to create, ideate or do amazing things. They must teach digitally capable’ individuals how to use the tools, put the right ethics, security and governance guardrails in place to make sure the organisation is not exposed to unnecessary risk and set them free.

So how do organisations stand up a successful Citizen Innovators program❓

1. Select the right individuals. Digitally dexterous employees need to be...

• Technology literate – developers need to know how to define logic; understand the integration requirements of different IT systems; design around non-functional requirements; understand database schemas; etc.

• Possess business acumen – everyone needs to understand where the business is headed. Organisational talent must develop and focus on business acumen. Everyone must be able to answer the following questions ‘What is the customer, team, or business problem we are trying to solve❓’ Real innovation happens when everyone acts to answers those fundamental business questions.

• Logical and organised – not everyone is capable of being a coder. Coding, decision making, and data analytics all take a logical ‘programmers’ mindset.

• Team-oriented – knowledge must be shared in a digital world.

• Enjoy learning – becoming a Citizen Innovators requires individuals to take on new skills, learning applications, coding styles and lots more.

• Be innovative – technology led innovation is catapulting organisations along the digital super highway at unbelievable speeds. An innovative mindset is required to extract the best value from digital and emerging tech.

• Swiftly and keenly adapt to new routines and changing new ways of working

• Work with little oversight but willing to collaborate and share with others who have diverse perspectives and experience

• Take calculated risk – life is not without risk. Individuals must be capable of taking sensible risks without betting the firm.

• Take constructive criticism – Citizen Innovators have to be able to take constructive criticism. This is especially true when they haven’t been formally trained in code development.

• Be organised and willing to document.

• Be curious, adaptable and excited by change

• Be politically savvy – working in a global organisation takes business and political skills to successfully navigate the work environment. Office politics are a blight in most organisations, but like it or lump it, individuals need to be able to navigate choppy political waters to make change happen.

• Be passionate about their role – the ability to exude passion for development and business change is key, to get others excited by what you and other Citizen Innovators are building and selling. 

• Use varied media to communicate with others (e.g. SMS, social media, video, email, PowerPoint, Slack, etc.).

2. Digital, Intelligent Automation, AI and Data Analytics must be a top 5 strategy objective of the business. 

The key way to bring digital dexterity into an organisation is to put in on the executive agenda. Unless the development of digital automation, and use of intelligent applications is on the executive agenda AND it is a key KPI at every level of the organisation, it will fail.

Executives should be the strongest advocates and each executive should sponsor each analytics use case. An executive sponsor should not only monitor projects but be made to explain the solution’s benefits, why its adoption in day-to-day operations is essential, and what structural changes are necessary to embed the solution.

In addition to ensuring a smooth digital and intelligent application rollout, the involvement of senior executives should accelerate the demolition of organizational silos.

3. Organisational culture must be open to change.

A digitally forward attitude and capability is something that must be present throughout an organisation for a Citizen Innovators program to gain momentum. The fundamental causes of shadow IT result from unhelpful IT departments not from Citizen Innovators themselves. Regardless of improvements in technology, if organizations are unable to provide IT solutions when the business need them, then shadow IT will persist. Championing digital dexterity must be part of every organisation’s DNA. Rather than block technology progress, regardless of who is progressing it, embrace and guide it. We cannot have the IT equivalent of Citizen Dentists roaming the business looking for the next IT cavity to fill but with the right guidance, mentorship and control, Citizen Innovators can play a part in a digital transformation program.

4. Start small, think big, scale fast. 

Digital transformations are often done best with a handful of passionate people leading the charge instead of thousands of employees. To get the ball rolling, a small but highly capable, executive backed, carefully selected and diligently curated team can act a catalyst of innovative change. Wins should be publicised and celebrated. Lessons should be learned and codified for other teams who will follow rapidly behind the first wave of creative talent.

5. Create opportunities to share well governed code by creating appropriate guardrails. 

The community of individuals who write their own stuff generally enjoy sharing it. Organisations must create methods, controls, systems, safeguards and opportunities which encourage individuals to share their ideas.

A organisation should create a governance board that sets rules, and creates a governance process that encourages the sharing of quality code. If organisations can create such systems, and then reward the sharing of well governed code, they will be rewarded with more innovative applications and ideas.

Organisations are rightly attracted to low-code / no-code platforms. Executives are attracted to technology options that offer business users drag and drop intuitive interfaces that offer the possibility of; speeding up application delivery; shortened time frames to digital transformation; the solving of business problems that IT have ‘no time’ to fix; the freeing IT staff to solve more complex challenges and lots more benefits besides.

Digital requires rapid change and many business leaders now find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation. Success in the digital age will be dependant upon organisations ability to execute their digital strategies at pace. Growing market uncertainty, accelerating technology changes and rapid changes in consumer demand, are forcing leaders to have to respond faster than ever.

But getting the right, and sufficient talent to design and execute at scale is a challenge.

Additional articles on digital dexterity and Citizen Innovators:

• Gartner Says Too Few Organizations Have the Digital Dexterity to Adopt New Ways of Work Solutions

• Four fundamentals of workplace automation McKinsey By Michael Chui, James Manyika, and Mehdi Miremadi

• Purple People: The heart of cognitive systems engineering.

• Governing Citizen Developers Betty Blocks

Who am I❓

I am senior executive with 28+ years of experience leading digital programs and the author of the book “The A-Z of Organizational Digital Transformation.”  I have been a director, board member, research fellow and advisor to multiple international companies.

Find me on social media LinkedIn | Kieran Gilmurray | Twitter | YouTube

I am regularly ranked as one of the top global experts in Intelligent Automation, Data Analytics, Brand Influence and Business Technology Innovation and have won multiple global awards including:

🔹Top 14 people to follow in data in 2023

🔹Top 20 Data Pros you NEED to follow 

🔹World's Top 200 Business and Technology Innovators  

🔹Global Automation Award Winner

🔹Top 50 Intelligent Automation Influencers  

🔹Top 50 Brand Ambassadors  

I am an experienced global head of automation and data science practitioner who has ran teams of software engineers, data base administrators, data scientist PHDs, data analysts, data engineers and database administrators for many years creating one of the very few true Decision Intelligence companies to date along the way.

Want help setting up your Citizen Innovators / Developers program❓

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