Will we all build our own apps?

A while ago I wrote about the notion that every company will soon have a developer. Someone working with them, helping them keep up and build the things they need.

But I’ve had another thought about this, and it’s one I’m not too sure about. Maybe in the near future, it won’t even be necessary to have your own software developer. Maybe people will just be able to create their own apps on demand.

People who are a bit technically minded, certainly. But perhaps those who aren’t as well.

An app made just for you

A colleague of mine is a good example. None of the fitness apps he used quite did what he wanted. He had different applications for tracking running, food and workouts.

So he’s coded his own app, just the way he wants it. For him, it’s better than all three combined, and it hasn’t cost him anything. He’s made it just for himself.

Now, he is a developer. But the tools he’s using aren’t that complicated, and I can’t help thinking that in a few years, an everyday person might be able to do the same thing. Build an application that’s just the way they want it, without needing a whole team around it.

I don’t think SaaS is dead

This links back to the notion I keep seeing on LinkedIn that SaaS is dead. I don’t think SaaS is dead. I think SaaS is changing.

I think there’s going to be some disruption. But one guy who’s a developer building his own fitness app and someone replacing an enterprise system with AI are two very different kettles of fish.

Security is an issue. I’d like to think people will be able to build these smaller things in a safe and secure way, but that isn’t something I’d take for granted.

The wider concern for me is where you’re dealing with sensitive data and you’ve got different applications stuck together. That has always been complicated, and I think it will remain complicated. AI is going to be able to do a hell of a lot to help, but I think there’ll still need to be some oversight.

For smaller things, though, I can see this becoming much more accessible. Having an app just the way you want it feels like a fairly natural place for this to go.

Getting what you want means knowing what you want

The pushback I find myself coming back to is that being able to get what you want relies on you knowing what you want.

I think AI can help tease that out of people. But one of the biggest challenges in software development, and a differentiator between being good and bad at it, is building the right thing.

There are lots of technically gifted people out there. There are also lots of people spending a lot of time building the wrong thing.

Speaking to the people who are actually going to use something and understanding what they want is a bit of a science, but it’s a bit of an art as well. People typically don’t quite know what they want. They’ll list things they definitely need, but there are other things they need that they’d never think to mention.

I think that’s going to be one of the biggest barriers. Until, of course, AI can do the business analyst role as well, gather the requirements and turn them into a specification.

Am I being protective of my own role?

I’m conscious that I might be slightly protective here. This is my career. It’s my job and my work we’re talking about.

If someone can just speak to an AI and build this stuff themselves, where does that leave me?

It’s hard to know sometimes whether I’m being overly defensive to protect my own role. Is the idea that people will still need this help wishful thinking on my part? Or is the world going to change and this work will just get eaten up too?

I don’t have a confident answer to that. I’ve written about how AI is changing my role as a software engineer, and I’m still working through what that means.

When you’re working in this space and using these tools, it’s very easy to get wrapped up in it. You start thinking everyone knows about this stuff and everyone’s already doing it.

But I think there are lots of companies still in the very early days of taking it on. They’re going to need help and guidance to get the most out of it in a sensible way.