Product Development for Low-Code Tools

As digital transformation (DX) continues to evolve across various industries, companies are increasingly adopting "no-code" and "low-code" development without the need for outsourcing. This article clarifies the distinctions between platforms that support "no-code" and "low-code" development in comparison to traditional SaaS and other common software development methodologies.

Difference between Low-Code and No-Code

Platforms designed for low-code and no-code development aim to simplify the application creation process. Here are the key differences:

No-Code

• Overview: Platforms that empower users without coding skills to build applications.
• Target Audience: Primarily designed for business users.
• Characteristics: Customization through coding is limited, relying instead on pre-built components and templates.
• Examples: Airtable, Zapier.

Low-Code

• Overview: A platform that facilitates application development with minimal coding requirements.
• Target Audience: Mainly intended for developers and IT professionals who have some coding experience.
• Features: Allows for customization through code and offers various templates.
• Typical Examples: Microsoft PowerApps, Outsystems, Mendix.

Additionally, low-code can be categorized into two types: those that enable the design of entire applications and those that allow for the design of specific modules within an application using a graphical user interface (GUI). Moving forward, we will focus primarily on low-code, comparing it to SaaS while emphasizing its developmental aspects.

Planning Philosophy in Low-Code Development

Low-code platforms enable users to create applications with little to no coding knowledge. This necessitates the development of systems that can accommodate fixed business processes while remaining adaptable to various use cases.

In contrast, SaaS typically serves specific industries and is less flexible than low-code systems. Due to this inherent flexibility, low-code is frequently employed by product managers, developers, and IT personnel, whereas SaaS is more tailored to specific operational roles.

A defining feature of low-code development is its flexibility regarding use cases, which enhances the system's scalability. For example, Salesforce can generate customer-specific sales emails based on data within the platform using the Prompt Builder. This capability ensures adaptability to other use cases, such as marketing, by leveraging prompts.

However, it's crucial to maintain a balance; if the product's level of abstraction becomes too high to enhance flexibility, it can obscure the original intent behind low-code and the use cases it can address. This can complicate implementation and usage. Therefore, it is essential to narrow down the use cases sufficiently and define minimum requirements while considering future expansions to accommodate other user segments and scenarios.

Approaching Low-Code Planning

To illustrate the SaaS planning process, we begin by interviewing the target user segment to gain insights into their business workflows. Next, we identify pain points within these workflows and brainstorm potential product ideas. We then extract user stories, prioritize them, and move on to prototyping. If no issues arise, we progress to the actual development phase.

The planning process for low-code mirrors that of SaaS significantly. While low-code can cater to a broad array of use cases, it is important to concentrate on specific industries and scenarios during the planning phase, transitioning from confirming business workflows to prototyping.

An additional consideration in the SaaS planning process is the collaboration with architects to ensure the product's scalability, enabling it to handle a diverse range of use cases.

Moreover, it is feasible to initiate with SaaS development and subsequently expand functionalities to incorporate low-code customization, thus catering to a wider array of use cases. When initially launched as SaaS, customizing for each user and performing systems integration (SI) can hinder scalability, which is why introducing low-code in this context may be beneficial.

In cases where selling a SaaS demo proves challenging, it may become more straightforward to promote the capabilities achievable through low-code.

Challenges in Low-Code Planning

As previously noted, while the process fundamentally aligns with SaaS planning, three key factors complicate the planning process: First, ensuring the product's scalability requires in-depth discussions with architects regarding the foundational layer, thereby increasing planning complexity.

This approach is akin to the "compounding" strategy currently trending in the SaaS industry, where multiple products are developed from a company's inception. In a compounding strategy, a common infrastructure is established for data, authentication, billing, etc., which can be utilized across various products. The challenge in low-code development is that it must also accommodate external use cases, adding to its complexity.

The second challenge involves deciding whether user requests should be addressed as low-code solutions or if users should handle them independently. Naturally, implementing user requests directly within the product enhances user value and can lead to a higher Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA). However, if the use cases are too narrowly defined due to the nature of low-code, it undermines its purpose.

Balancing these considerations while making product adjustments adds another layer of complexity to the process.

Finally, as highlighted earlier, diverse requests from various users can make it challenging to prioritize projects that are not easily comparable. Therefore, it is vital not only to set priorities but also to effectively communicate these outcomes to both the product and business teams.

Conclusion

If you are embarking on low-code development for the first time, determining where to start can be daunting. However, as discussed in this article, the fundamental flow remains similar to that of SaaS development, beginning with defining the scope and clarifying user needs.

Nonetheless, low-code development presents its own unique challenges, such as collaborating with architects to ensure scalability for diverse users, determining the extent of product deliverables, and prioritizing and communicating effectively with the development team.

By addressing these challenges thoughtfully, we aim to enhance low-code planning, support a broader range of use cases, and potentially lead the way in the development of enterprise applications.