[nkapias]

I'm the main dev in a small IT company, my backlog is filled with requests, it's not always easy to prioritize and plan, some of those small projects are ignored for months, yet their business value are sound.

I've observed a new trend, managers who are frequently in the wait list started to use AI to generate small local apps. They still rely on my input when it's complex, or when implementation could generate risks or need resilience and would ask for small code reviews when they are unsure of the generated code quality.

The result is win win, I have more time for high value projects the executives want to prioritize, and managers can innovate faster almost on their own.

[monknomo]

I have started to notice some similarities to MS Access development, where an SME creates a useful app for themselves and begins to share it.

I wonder if it will have a similar pattern of creating a mess as the app starts to get uptake and the SME can't scale their attention to be an app owner, as well as an SME at the same time.

Also makes me think that an llm-developed-app-friendly shared datastore would be a useful thing to have

[nkapias]

I like your 'llm-developped-app-friendly shared datastore' idea and would pursue it.

While taking ownership of AI slop is not an option for me, I do want to avoid shadow IT.

Might be a moon shot .. could sharing a prompt template with git access to colleagues be a way to enforce it ?

[nickthegreek]

At my work, I am not an engineer, but work in the operations side. Our managers have a hard time getting engineering resources to do similar stuff like you were discussing.

I have been empowered to be the quick and dirty build guy for small local apps instead of fighting for engineering resources. Now our managers regularly hit me up on slack with small little items that if built, could increase productivity for their teams. I love it. I'm mostly building systems that work with google workspace (docs/sheets/forms/email). So its a lot of little appscripts, or single html file apps made available via google sites. Most of our operations staff dont have all the required underlying expertise to quickly pull this kind of thing off, and are not interested in strengthening those talents. It has allowed me to shine bright while also providing much needed relief to many teams.

[kayo_20211030]

How do these managers deploy the code? Is it run locally, or sent to some server?

Excel used to be, and probably still is, the primary competitor to enterprise-developed apps - a lot of businesses run on it. But, that was a locally deployed phenomenon, with an added ability to deploy it somewhere else by simply emailing the workbook to someone else.

In your organization, how do your managers turn their code into working software?

[nkapias]

All platforms have their own known single way to deploy, they give the documentation to AI as constraints.

Some users with privileged access can run their app locally in cli or browser, else most softwares we work with can use custom modules in specific languages (html, css, js, dax, vb.net, perl, python, sql, etc.). Ownership and trust must be established, for example only the commercial manager has access to deploy modules to CRM. They usually are constrained to read access, unless they are informed engineering managers.

Ideally I would share pipelines to deploy static pages, or a predefined dynamic architecture. I'm wary the security risks are too great, I don't trust they would have enough time / interest to become autonomous in unconstrained environments so I didn't pursue the idea, maybe I could for static pages, or in isolated networks ..

[kayo_20211030]

Thanks for the reply. Appreciated.

[cube00]

While it's great now, my worry is that these apps will start to rot as the platforms and infra they run on advance forward, then developers will be on the hook for migrating them.

Although if they were HTML/JS/CSS with no dependencies you could argue that might be quite bullet proof since browsers have an unmatched record of backward compatibility.

[nkapias]

With change management they can be informed of platform / infra and be autonomous to upgrade their app. They usually are in the loop if they have ownership, or will be after it happens a few times.

Also I believe the value is in the output, not the app itself. ROI of a 1 hour AI slop should™ be attained before it rots and they can just spun up a new one.

I might be hopeful and a bit selfish here, I expect my colleagues to own their toolbox.

[currydove]

i'm noticing this across even startups and mid-market companies too!

i don't think its going to be a silver bullet, but it doesn't need to be. niche, well understood problems with simple tooling needs are the best ones to start with.

https://culturecompiled.com/p/things-are-getting-awkward-for...

[makerdiety]

That sounds good enough for me.