Confidence catalyses citizen developer programmes in the public sector

Government operations, in particular, have a long history of requiring approval before any action is taken. 

However, a new movement is quietly challenging that status quo, one that is not just powered by low-code tools, but by something harder to engineer: confidence.

According to ServiceNow’s Area Vice President Dom Wee, citizen developer programmes are not just about giving people tools - they are about unlocking initiative.

“Confidence is the real catalyst,” said Wee. “When officers know they’re trusted to experiment, they stop waiting for permission and start solving real problems.”

At GovInsider’s inaugural Citizen Developer Day on July 2 in Singapore, leaders from VITAL, GovTech Singapore, and ServiceNow discussed how building citizen developer programmes is not only about tools or governance.

To foster both confidence and momentum in citizen developer programmes, there is a need to empower non-technical officers to take initiative and encourage them to start small and fail fast.

The panel session, How to Create a Citizen Development Programme in a Public Sector Organisation featured VITAL’s Director, Service Partnership & Innovation, Alex Tang; ServiceNow’s Area Vice President, Dom Wee; and GovTech (seconded to Ministry of Manpower)’s Digital Business Analyst, Lara Chia. 

Building confidence to experiment 

“Being part of a citizen developer movement is very exciting,” said ServiceNow’s Wee as the notion of a bottom-up movement actively challenges this ingrained habit. 

Confidence is essential, especially when dealing with new, complex tools where things can go wrong.  

“It clearly shows that even non-technical officers can initiate change and improve their work without waiting for permission,” Wee added. 

According to GovTech’s Chia, the biggest challenge of creating a citizen developer programme lies in traditional workflows and mindsets. 

“There is a pervasive belief that these tools are too advanced or out of reach, and a fear of making mistakes,” she explained, adding that a hesitant mindset alone could derail even the most promising initiatives. 

To build confidence, Chia recommended identifying a high-impact use case as well as starting small and simple, as this allowed officers to quickly build a proof-of-concept (POC) to prove results.  

She added that officers should revisit the processes first before introducing the tool. 

“When you simplify the process and introduce the tool, it's much more achievable and it builds confidence already,” she said, adding that results could get buy-in and build momentum around it.  

To subscribe to the GovInsider bulletin, click here.

Use cases that show what is possible

Real-world examples back this up.

Singapore government’s central agency for shared services VITAL’s Tang shared about his agency’s journey of building a 350-strong citizen developer team, comprising of non-technical public officers trained in using low- or no-code tools to build applications.  

The agency has been fostering a citizen developer culture by strategically blending governance with empowerment initiatives, enabling rapid development and deployment of solutions. 

Hospitals are seeing similar success. This was evident in Singapore General Hospital (SGH)’s experience of building up a citizen developer movement, with a six-person strong expert team supporting more than 227 non-technical officers in developing automation and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for their daily work. 

Similarly for NHG Health’s innovation office, a central expert team provided evaluation and wayfinding of new technologies by supporting innovators with the governance framework and resources to pilot and scale ideas. 

Confidence does not mean going it alone

ServiceNow’s Wee emphasised the importance of building a citizen developer

community, because fostering one allowed for the powerful replication of success. 

“When a public officer solves a long-standing problem, sharing that achievement could inspire other colleagues facing a similar problem,” said Wee. 

Officers might realise they too can solve it, which leads them to seek guidance.  

For GovTech’s Chia, the goal for citizen developers should not be about solving 100 per cent of the problem immediately.  

Once a small POC demonstrates that it works, low- to no-coders could then present it to management, securing their buy-in and the resources needed for the next steps. 

Clarity and trust matter

Confidence needs structure. This is why officers should have a clear understanding of what they can do, including knowing that they could experiment and even fail while doing so. 

VITAL’s Tang highlighted the importance of calibrating governance alongside empowering employees.

At the leadership level, organisations must differentiate governance for enterprise-wide solutions versus smaller, team-based initiatives; as well as make it as easy as possible for staff to use automation tools, he said.  

Embedding governance into low- or no-code tools was a sentiment echoed by both ServiceNow’s Wee and GovTech’s Chia.  

For example, building essential features like audits, logs, security, policies and access controls used to be a major hurdle for citizen developers due to their complexity.

“However, new low- or no-code tools including those of ServiceNow integrate these features, giving agencies complete control over all applications built by their teams,” said Wee.

“Security and audits are often built into low- or no-code tools, so one does not need to worry about those complexities,” added Chia.   

Confidence is the first step

Citizen developer programmes in government do not start with tech. They start with trust.

Confidence to explore. Confidence to test. Confidence that someone has got your back if you hit a snag.

“A successful citizen development needs trust. You [Citizen developers] trust that you have the permission.

"You trust that your leadership has your back.

"You trust that you are given the freedom and the autonomy. You also trust that you wouldn’t get into trouble because there is governance in place,” said Wee.

Singapore’s leading agencies are proving that with the right mix of governance and support, public officers can drive real innovation – one small win at a time.