back to article ServiceNow plans non-devs writing non-code for real enterprise apps

ServiceNow has put up a fine set of quarterly and annual numbers and offered guidance suggesting its best is yet to come as the company moves beyond its IT roots and prepares to let non-developer business professionals start to program its platform. The company’s Q4 2017 saw it bring US$546.4m through the door, all $497.2m of …

  1. David Roberts
    Joke

    Picture

    Ive got a mothball in this hand, and a mothball in that hand.

    What have I got?

  2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "And this no-code development capability enables that.”

    This really must be The Last One, mustn't it?

    "[Apologies to any developers whose spines just twitched uncomfortably - Ed]"

    You mean the newbies who haven't heard it all before?

    1. Aitor 1

      Hear it before

      Several times.

      None of them worked.

      The main problem with developing something is understanding the problem, and how (as in function) to solve it. Very rarely it is a technicological problem.

      And by understanding, I mean fully understanding, down to the gritty details.

      If you are able to both understand the problem and define the solution, you are probably able to express that with code.

      This seems to be like previous solutions.. that wanted to have clueless people solving problem. Only to find that clueless poeple are.. well, clueless. And if they make the effort not to be clueless, yes, the first few times they would use the "code free" solution, but that will feel limiting quite quickly and go and learn to code properly.

      So you either get bad solutions or you get solutions that could be better with proper tools.

      that being seaid, some industrial processes, etc do benefit from this approach.

  3. Lysenko

    Discomfort?

    And this no-code development capability enables that.”

    [Apologies to any developers whose spines just twitched uncomfortably - Ed]

    Well, maybe, if you laugh too hard. Yet another delusional fool tries to re-invent the Last One, the only question being whether the result will be tragedy, farce or both.

  4. iron Silver badge

    no-code development capability

    hahahahahahahahahaha *BONK*

    Excuse me, I seem to have laughed my head off. :o

  5. EricM

    Lotus Notes has been marketed on this promise for a long time now ...

    Developer-less development is basically development by not-yet developers... Once they start, they become developers - tied to this specific environment in which they _are_ developers.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lotus Notes has been marketed on this promise for a long time now ...

      And for those fortunate enough to have avoided Lotus Notes, there are companies that do similar things with Excel and Word.

      What starts as a simple spreadsheet evolves into the all knowing monster that breaks if anyone other than its master touches it. Although surely they wouldn't run a business on that....

  6. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

    Programming is scale invariant

    Most (all?) programming is just "automating a work flow": it's about arranging for numbers to move between registers, ports and main memory; or for batches of numbers (data) to move between console file and tcp streams; or to connect together OS and non-OS supplied libraries.

    "No-dev development" just means the process has been simplified to the point where it can be done with a line or two of code. But, sure as eggs are eggs, people will then try to do more, and the complexity will get out of hand. And then the devs will need to step in. Because development is just the skill of managing the tangled systems that are characteristic of computers.

    We will only be to do away with devs, when we can keep the complexity for all tasks below some LOCcrit which non-specialist can cope with.

    1. Teiwaz

      Re: Programming is scale invariant

      We will only be to do away with devs, when we can keep the complexity for all tasks below some LOCcrit which non-specialist can cope with.

      Never mind redesigning the development environment, we'd need a redesign on the human brain as well.

      Despite occasional appearances to the contrary, the human brain does not in fact run on pure logic,it doesn't generally even run on some base form of common sense, but on a form of self generated logic which is certainly not platform independent, and often not even common to other similar models of human brain.

      New brain from Currys

    2. Lysenko

      Re: Programming is scale invariant

      Programming without coding is like arithmetic without numbers. Yes, you can approximate some of the functions with a giant bag of coconuts and arranging them into differently sized piles, but sooner or later you realise that the guys who built Stonehenge were probably more sophisticated than this - and you reinvent numbers.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sounds just like COBOL

    While at the same time kissing goodbye to any hope of a business model.

    Its like making an entire organisation out of single user workflows (now no longer limited to insane Excel monsters that when the person leaves IT are asked to help "fix") I see no problems arising from that.

  8. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    I confidently predict

    that good quality "no code" development in ServiceNow will be as ubiquitous as flying cars, personal jetpacks, and paperless offices.

    1. Daedalus

      Re: I confidently predict

      And unicorns. Always unicorns in this biz.

    2. Down not across

      Re: I confidently predict

      Can't be any worse than SN itself is. Can it?

  9. Daedalus

    Pulp Fiction

    Most software is just moving data from here to there, so that's where you start.

    "What's your data?"

    "We don't know"

    "Where's your data?"

    "We don't know"

    "Who does know?"

    "Zed knows"

    "Where's Zed?"

    "Zed's dead"

  10. SVV

    True life story

    Worked at a place where they introduced JBoss BPM (business process management) tools to let the business folks do exactly what is being promised here. It required massive amounts of user training to even get people used to the fact that this could be used to take different paths in the already quite complex business processes the company used. These people knew the processes inside out as smart business types, but found getting to grips with the technology daunting and difficult. plus they needed endless hours of technical support on a continuous basis to get it installed and up and running correctly, let alone use it effectively.

    Once they started using it, I twigged that all they were doing were changing a number of decision tree routes according to values they wanted to adjust regularly, and adjust a number of percentages and cost band thresholds as and when they needed to.

    One web page, some new authorisation types and a few days programming later, I provided them with all they needed to do these things in one easy to understand and use place and all need for the "users doing development work" ceased for good, along with the associated headaches and hassle.

    1. Daedalus

      Re: True life story

      I was on a project to help sales droids know which customers were worth the effort, which business lines did the best revenue etc.

      When the results came out it was "We already knew that", or "We know it's making a loss, but without that business we don't get the other business that does make money".

      One fun fact came out of it: Styrofoam school lunch trays were thicker in California than elsewhere. Now they're recycled hemp plants, of course.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Upvote

    I feel like I want to upvote almost every post in this Comments section. I love you guys.

  12. Trixr

    Obviously I'm behind the times in thinking that a billion dollar business no longer qualifies as a "start-up".

  13. springsmarty

    Codeless makes sense in some cases

    Cherwell (a ServiceNow competitor) has been doing codeless automation since day one and there is a reason for it. Since the codeless framework is not Turing Complete (and never will be), there are strict boundaries to what can be done. At the same time, this grossly simplifies upgrades. Upgrading a system with Turing Complete (i.e. code) extensions is a nightmare.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like