One wouldn't suggest constructing a skyscraper without bothering the architect department, so why do suits and low/no-code advocates think it is a positive to have untrained people building apps without the input of IT?
Becky in accounting and Jim in marketing have about as much business building an app without IT's input as they do building an actual building without an architect's input. In both cases you end up with a poorly designed product that will fall down when put under the stresses of the real world.
As a retired engineer, I think of these similar to the engineering design standards we used to develop on our plants. For instance you draw up a standard specification specifying what piping material is to be used for which specific fluid and physical conditions (i.e. pressure, temperature and such). The plant engineer selecting the pipe to be used from the table does not have to do any calculations/tests to reconfirm the suitability of the pipe for the specific application. He only needs sufficient knowledge to know when the application has strayed from conditions applicable to the standard, in which case the job is typically referred to a piping design specialist. We never referred to the former cases as no-engineering jobs though, which I think is the point of this article.
As an aside, I always thought it unfortunate that the IT types never bothered looking at those amazing spreadsheets some engineers built. I believe there was a treasure trove of opportunity hidden in those.
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One wouldn't suggest constructing a skyscraper without bothering the architect department, so why do suits and low/no-code advocates think it is a positive to have untrained people building apps without the input of IT?
Becky in accounting and Jim in marketing have about as much business building an app without IT's input as they do building an actual building without an architect's input. In both cases you end up with a poorly designed product that will fall down when put under the stresses of the real world.
As a retired engineer, I think of these similar to the engineering design standards we used to develop on our plants. For instance you draw up a standard specification specifying what piping material is to be used for which specific fluid and physical conditions (i.e. pressure, temperature and such). The plant engineer selecting the pipe to be used from the table does not have to do any calculations/tests to reconfirm the suitability of the pipe for the specific application. He only needs sufficient knowledge to know when the application has strayed from conditions applicable to the standard, in which case the job is typically referred to a piping design specialist. We never referred to the former cases as no-engineering jobs though, which I think is the point of this article.
As an aside, I always thought it unfortunate that the IT types never bothered looking at those amazing spreadsheets some engineers built. I believe there was a treasure trove of opportunity hidden in those.