Low code/no code (LC/NC) is a trending topic today than ever. I had the privilege of evaluating half a dozen LC/NC platforms in mid-2018 and handpicked a solution that I thought would work well. It worked well for the project we chose. We built workflows for a small set of daily NAV Funds that needed task/process management with automated checklists as part of the daily NAV Cycle. However, it wasn’t easy to put the solution together. When developing the solution, I believed that was the norm.

I have recently caught up on the latest and most popular web technologies. I hadn’t written much javascript code for years until recently. Funny that I was a master JS coder in 1999, certified by Brainbench. I was also a Sun Certified Java Developer in 1999. In the past 20 years, I have worked predominantly on integrating platforms and solutions and building the overall technology stack. The coding involved more integrations, pipelines, backend SQL development, and c# / vb.net workflows.

That has changed recently to creating full-stack applications. I realized that full-stack software development is more straightforward than a decade earlier. One can build applications more quickly now than ever, and I’m beating myself for not taking the time to do something like this. To build enterprise-grade applications, you need more skills and know the problem you are looking to solve well. Thankfully, there is no shortage of problems to solve.

So why am I sharing this experience here? I see some common beliefs regarding LC/NC and wanted to share my thoughts based on my recent experience and reflect on what I was doing in the last three years.

Two main myths are

• Low Code / No Code platform does not require developers or development skills.

• Low Code / No Code can solve Enterprise-wide application faster than Full Stack development.

Vendor Lock

In addition to vendor locking, the time to learn the LC/NC tool was rather steep. The platform vendors recommend investing about 1 or 2 years in the platform.

Design Constraints

LC/NC has design and data constraints, and one has to work around these constraints. Some restrictions on  the user interface affect the experience you need for the customer and users on the app.
Devops Challenge
The number of Apps developed on LC/NC grows significantly fast due to UI and other constraints and becomes a devops  challenge.  Picking the right technology is critical at the design stage.
Bloated code

The other area where I was skeptical was the inefficiency that could impact high-volume transactional  applications due to bloated code and componentization within the LC/NC platforms.

Expensive
While engaging consultants in some cases may not be expensive on paper, especially in outsourced locations,the experience was still quite expensive as you could not retain the knowledge shared with those consultants on operational processes and workflows.

Low code could be helpful when businesses have something within a particular team or function that needs tactical solutions. Examples of these could be

     • Capturing Invoices into the financial system by scraping pdfs.

• Automating proposals within a business development function or

• Building performance appraisals in HR Management.

A Full Stack application development scores well in these areas when you architect the platform correctly. It is much quicker to build functionalities as microservices on that platform and roll them every few sprints to business. Javascript developer resources are more accessible than a platform or LC/NC developers in the market.

Every organization needs application development talent today. LC/NC can solve some tactical aspects and could be used as a Hedge to protect your core talent focused on strategic initiatives. I sincerely hope this to be helpful to others looking to implement LC/NC solution or Full Stack App.

Finally, I’d love to hear thoughts from the development community to share your experience or thoughts to lperumalsamy@longshore.ky

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