This guide teaches you how to identify Appian development skill sets and how to structure that talent to build your development teams.
Skills Checklist:
In Appian, developers use visual tools to construct applications from pre-built components rather than developing in a traditional coding language. The platform includes tools for creating interfaces, business rules, process flows, data and integrations with external systems. While in a traditional development approach each of these aspects would be created by a specialized developer, with Appian developers are expected to be interdisciplinary capable of creating any/all aspects of an intended application.
This paradigm shift means that your developers no longer need to solely focus on technical depth to build architecturally sound applications. While technical acumen is beneficial, it’s far more important to hire individuals with a good mix of business analysis and technical skills and an appetite for learning new features; these will build the foundations for a holistic understanding of low code software development. As such, it is critical to plan your sourcing and training/upskilling strategies to include this broader range of skills in order to take full advantage of the Appian platform.
Key exception: On-premise installations are a specific instance where installing the Appian software will require a greater level of technical knowledge - the skills required for effective development of solutions are the same. These contexts generally require someone who is competent as a system administrator on the target operating system (Linux or Windows). This skill set is not required for cloud deployments.
Appian strongly recommends a ‘team of 3’ structure (core pod team) supported by a Delivery Manager and an Architect for most projects (as described in the Roles and Qualifications section). With larger projects or programs, the implementation can be organized with multiple small teams collaborating with each other. A team should be cross-functional such that anybody can take on any task, but some may be stronger in certain skills. Based on extensive Appian implementation experience, a team of 3 full-time committed professionals with the right skills can accomplish program objectives much more rapidly with great coordination and support from the management.
While Appian recommends the use of small teams, it does not mean Appian customers are limited to executing small projects. Customers can build larger projects by breaking projects down and running multiple teams in parallel. Appian recommends that, as new projects are added, all delivery teams should leverage a common methodology. If there is any domain overlap, the governance in place should identify dependencies and coordinate release cadence.
Appian development demands less technical expertise than traditional high-code development and typically involves more interdisciplinary projects. That means members of an Appian team must be versatile and capable of performing a variety of roles. We refer to it as ‘The Developer and ___’ approach, which encourages Appian developers to gain supplemental skills complementing their core development duties. This doesn’t mean that Appian team members don’t have specialization, but rather that they have a ‘T-shaped’ profile: moderate knowledge in a broad range of skills, with deeper knowledge in a few core areas. This is also referred to as being a ‘Generalized Specialist’.
Ideally, Appian team members are T-shaped and cross-trained on a range of business and technical skills, some of which may become speciality areas over time. For example, a developer with a business analyst background might have deep knowledge of requirements gathering, analysis, and testing, but they will also possess foundational skills in development, data design, etc. This balance of breadth and depth is what constitutes a T-shaped profile, as illustrated below.
This approach enables Appian teams to be small, while remaining adaptable, since each member is capable of stepping into different roles when needed. This results in fewer external dependencies and smoother project progression. Let’s look at some of the recommended speciality areas for Appian Developers.
Following are some key principles to keep in mind for developer speciality areas:
Although dedicated roles are not required, Appian teams have found over time and through many projects that developing several specialty area skill sets can be highly beneficial.
Key Responsibilities
Product design specialists ensure that the finished application is a joy to use, conforms to Appian UX best practices, and meets user expectations for aesthetic design and usability. They are extremely familiar with Appian UX guidance, design patterns, and performance implications of different design patterns. When users or other stakeholders disagree with Appian UX guidance, product design specialists work with them to find a healthy compromise. During project development, they also conduct UX reviews and demonstrations, as well as engage in discovery activities to help ensure the team is building the right thing.
Business analysis specialists look at application requirements and convert them into Appian user stories for later development. They spend much of their time focusing on discovery, estimation, and communication between the business, IT, and the development team.
Application Architecture specialists are also knowledgeable about integrations, intelligent automation features such as RPA and AI Skills, DevOps and Appian deployment practices. They develop organizational best practices for consistent and reliable functionality of their Appian implementations. Someone who continues to grow and develop this speciality may eventually become an Appian Architect as their full time role.
Application Architecture specialists have a firm knowledge of Appian design patterns and best practices, allowing them to serve as the first point of contact for technical issues and questions.They are very familiar with database management practices for scalability and performance, and integrating them into Appian design.
They are also knowledgeable about integrations, intelligent automation features such as RPA and AI Skills, DevOps and Appian deployment practices. They develop organizational best practices for consistent and reliable functionality of their Appian implementations. Someone who continues to grow and develop this speciality may eventually become an Appian Architect as their full time role.
Testing specialists ensure the development team follows best practices surrounding testing and quality assurance. As part of their role, they create the test strategy followed by the rest of the team. While individual developers execute unit and integration testing as a routine part of development, testing specialists verify that proper load and performance testing of the system occurs before deployment. They are also knowledgeable about the different types of testing and how to most effectively use them, including when and how to leverage automated testing.
Agile specialists ensure the development team understands and follows Appian’s delivery methodology. As part of that, they often facilitate stand ups, refinement sessions, retrospectives, and organize sprint demos with the team.
Project Management specialists ensure stakeholders achieve their desired outcomes through successful project delivery. With each project, they manage budget and resource allocation, assess velocity, maintain the product backlog, and conduct disaster planning. Managing risk and clearing impediments are central to the project management specialty.
Accessibility specialists ensure that Appian projects meet requirements for accessibility in accordance with applicable regulations, web standards, and general best practices. They are familiar with Appian’s accessibility tools, and advise developers on best practices, as well as design decisions that would negatively impact application accessibility.
Enablement specialists ensure successful use of the application. They monitor documentation of the application during development so that others can effectively use it and expand on it. During or after the project, they may be responsible for training and supporting users in their design and architecture efforts.
Building a team of T-shaped, generalized specialists, can help drive business transformation in a way that pure technical resources cannot: they can re-imagine the future state business process, challenge underlying assumptions, interview key stakeholders to drive business value and work with integration partners to deliver programs more effectively.
Low-code development platforms, like Appian, reduce the level of technical knowledge required to build powerful applications. As such, some organizations have sponsored citizen development programs: enabling the Appian up-skilling of non-technical roles, often embedded within business groups. These citizen developers can leverage the speed and power of the Appian platform to address various business challenges. The most frequently cited benefit of citizen development programs is the promise of empowering people closest to business challenges to use Appian to fix them without reliance on central IT resources, improving business speed and agility while enabling IT groups to scale.
Citizen Development programs are not without challenges. Some of the most frequently cited include:
These challenges can be overcome with a solid structure of support and accountability. Appian interviewed citizen development program leaders to find out how they set up their programs to meet these challenges and reap the rewards of citizen developers.
See how S&P Global built a grassroots campaign around the promotion of citizen development to meet demand for Appian developers and to scale their business.
Read the full story here.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank aims to source Appian developers from employees closest to the company’s business problems. Learn how they structure and support their citizen development program.