Thoughtworks Technology Podcast Mean time to shared understanding: Bridging the gap between citizen developers and developers
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Sep 18, 2025 Scott Davies, Head of Technology for ThoughtWorks Europe, and Christopher Hastings, Global Tech Product Lead, delve into the evolving relationship between citizen developers and seasoned software engineers. They discuss the benefits of rapid prototyping and the risks of shadow IT when non-developers build solutions without a technical background. The conversation highlights the importance of strong governance and collaboration, offering practical tips for empowering citizen developers while maintaining security and efficiency. A lively debate unfolds on fostering mutual understanding and avoiding organizational friction.
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Prototyping Shrinks The Feedback Loop
- Rapid prototyping with modern tools compresses feedback loops from days to minutes and enables fast iteration.
- Christopher Hastings and Scott Davies say this lowers the barrier to exploring ideas with real users quickly.
Prototypes Create Expectation Gaps
- Citizen-developed prototypes can create unrealistic expectations about production effort and quality.
- Scott Davies emphasizes translating prototypes into enterprise-grade solutions requires collaboration on guardrails and integration.
Put Guardrails Around Citizen Projects
- Do define and enforce guardrails for security, data access, and lifecycle before wide citizen development.
- Scott Davies recommends collaborating early to identify data sources, permissions, and integration boundaries.