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Developers Reject New Technology Today and Miss Opportunities Tomorrow
Get the skills you need tomorrow, not the skills you need today
The initial assessment of technology is to focus on the now and miss the what can be
When new technology, languages, frameworks, tools appear, our first reaction is to reject them. We see the first version, conclude it will not be a success and decide to not waste time on it.
The mistake we make is we see only what it can do now, not its potential.
When I write about how Low-code is disrupting software development, developers common response is this was tried 10 years ago with VB6, Delphi and it didn’t work — Developers Have Seen Low-Code Development Before and It Failed, Why It Will Be Different This Time
Technology is too different and it involves developers acknowledging change is coming and our current skills could go stale.
“Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been” Wayne Gretzky
Developers need skills for the future, not skills for the past.
Developers who don’t get low-code development tools are stuck either looking at low-code tools from the past or can only see what they can do now. You need to avoid the trap of dismissing a technology because of the bad first versions.
Technology is limited in its first version, but it’s the potential you need to consider. What are the potential improvements, how can it be used and what is the potential demand. Andy Grove talks about these as strategic inflection points, an excellent summary can be found here
Bill Gates ignored the internet because in the beginning it was limited and easy to ignore. People dismissed smart phones or mobile devices because they were rubbish.
It’s not what low-code development can do right now, it’s what it’s going to become in the future. Microsoft and other companies will invest and improve because there will be demand to use low-code development tools. The benefits are faster software and reduced IT spend.
