Rapid Mobile App Development | Low Code Pros and Cons

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a renewed urgency to create new digital experiences, accelerating ongoing digital transformation efforts and replacing traditional waterfall development cycles with more continuous and automated methodologies. In this context, two approaches have gained prominence: low-code/no-code (LCNC) development and rapid application development (RAD).

While both low-code and RAD aim to expedite software development and delivery, they are distinct concepts. Low-code development centers around visual programming, enabling domain experts to assemble their own applications and workflows without writing code. In contrast, RAD is a broader approach focused on evolving traditional waterfall development cycles through rapid prototyping and user testing. It’s worth noting that RAD doesn’t inherently involve low-code/no-code platforms, although it can if a software team chooses that strategy.

In this discussion, we’ll delve into the definitions of low-code and rapid application development, highlighting their similarities and differences. Additionally, we’ll explore the merits and drawbacks of each approach to help you determine which one suits your software development needs.

Low-Code Development

Low-code development is a paradigm that simplifies software development by offering a codeless approach to building applications. Low-code/no-code platforms typically provide a user interface-driven experience with drag-and-drop building blocks. These reusable components can handle a wide range of functions, from processing payments to creating forms, managing user accounts, triggering events, and more. Low-code environments also abstract underlying APIs, simplifying the process of integrating with Software as a Service (SaaS) and external data sources.

Traditionally, IT departments often grapple with lengthy project backlogs, causing non-IT teams to wait months for even the simplest app to be designed, developed, and deployed. Low-code development addresses this challenge by expediting application development for non-programmers who wish to leverage their domain expertise to create specific functionalities. These non-programmer users are often referred to as citizen developers.

Numerous low-code/no-code frameworks are available in the market, empowering individuals like product managers or financial analysts to enhance their operations while allowing professional developers to concentrate on core infrastructure development.

Advantages of Low-Code Development

1. Empowers domain experts to participate in development.
2. Shortens development time.
3. Helps bridge IT gaps and alleviates engineering shortages.
4. Complements the workflow of professional developers.
5. Reduces the effort required to generate boilerplate code for multiple platforms.
6. Lowers barriers to integrating with external data sources and tools.
7. Typically cloud-based and easily accessible.
8. Facilitates automated deployment and hosting.

Drawbacks of Low-Code Development

1. Requires new governance to oversee non-developer usage.
2. Introduces new security concerns.
3. May lead to additional technical debt.
4. Can be challenging to promote a citizen developer culture.
5. Often requires IT involvement to complete the development process.
6. Excessive reliance on automation can yield negative outcomes.
7. Lack of vendor-neutral low-code standards limits portability.

Rapid Mobile App Development

Rapid application development (RAD) is a project lifecycle approach that serves as an alternative to the traditional waterfall development model known as Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Conventional plan-based models, like SDLC, originally stemmed from the physical engineering realm and didn’t seamlessly translate to software development. RAD, on the other hand, emphasizes ongoing, continuous development, involving the rapid creation of prototypes that are promptly showcased to users for iterative feedback collection. In essence, RAD embraces flexibility in the project’s blueprint.

The concept of rapid mobile app development was formalized by James Martin in his 1991 book, “Rapid Application Development.” Martin’s RAD condenses the project lifecycle into four key stages: the requirements phase, user design phase, construction phase, and a cutover phase. It’s important to note that RAD can be interpreted differently by various groups and organizations. For instance, OutSystems rephrases the RAD process as “Define Requirements, Prototype, Absorb Feedback, and Finalize Product.”

The common denominator in RAD is its avoidance of extensive design specifications, focusing on agile prototyping and increased user testing to maintain quality and adapt to user demands throughout the project.

Advantages of Rapid Application Development

1. Shortens development lifecycles, ensuring on-time project completion.
2. Well-suited for user interface (UI)-intensive applications.
3. Allows flexibility to make changes during development, rather than post-release.
4. Continuous testing identifies risks and bugs early in the development process.
5. Facilitates the refinement of the user experience throughout development.
6. Enables the rapid creation of proof of concepts.
7. Reduces unforeseen changes from clients after project delivery.
8. Helps eliminate unused features to maintain cost-efficiency.

Drawbacks of Rapid Application Development

1. Reduced structure may result in less control over the project.
2. Requires significant interaction between users and developers, potentially diverting domain experts from their primary roles.
3. The agile nature of RAD may pose challenges in high-security scenarios.
4. Ideally suited for small-to-medium-sized teams and projects.
5. Scaling RAD governance across an enterprise can be complex.
6. RAD does not inherently support the concept of citizen development.

Comparing LCNC and RAD

How do LCNC and RAD differ? Firstly, low-code is a technology, while RAD is a conceptual process. Low-code development is closely associated with specific development platforms, whereas RAD is a general term that describes a modern adaptive software development approach. While RAD outlines specific steps, it doesn’t prescribe a particular development framework, programming language, or platform.

Another distinction lies in the adoption of these approaches. rapid mobile app development is typically embraced by teams of professional programmers who continuously collaborate with subject matter experts to showcase prototypes and gather feedback. Domain experts are not typically the ones constructing applications in the RAD model. In contrast, low-code often empowers domain experts to create software themselves. Nonetheless, low-code tools can be employed to accelerate the RAD process.

Both LCNC and RAD foster flexibility and adaptability within the development process. Software development is inherently knowledge-based and relies on real-world usage to guide development decisions. This makes it crucial to accommodate changing expectations and requirements mid-project, such as the discovery of new libraries or APIs, or addressing user difficulties in understanding feature functionality.

In summary, low-code development and rapid application development are not mutually exclusive; they can both deliver rapid prototypes and share a common goal: enhancing agility in software development. Both approaches enable flexibility to meet evolving end-user needs and prioritize an interface-driven development process that emphasizes testing at the UI level.