Fusion teams
Low-code collaboration to accelerate application delivery, reduce costs, and minimize risk
Intro to fusion teams
Enterprises struggle with long backlogs, which means that they are often unable to develop many apps that have the potential to drive significant business value.
A fusion team brings business and IT together to accelerate development, lower costs, mitigate risk, and ensure that what is delivered meets business expectations.
What is a fusion team?
A fusion team is a cross-functional approach to low-code application delivery that involves collaboration between citizen developers, IT, and other experts to mitigate security, operational, regulatory, reputational, and financial risk. With a fusion team, applications can be built quickly and at lower cost, without introducing unnecessary risk.
Why fusion teams?
Low-code authoring environments allow citizen developers to build low-complexity, low-risk department applications in ways that are fast, agile, and inexpensive.
But what about applications that are too complex and critical for citizen developers but not critical enough to be prioritized by IT?
How do fusion teams work?
Most fusion teams begin as a citizen development squad and are formed if a project introduces risk that can be mitigated by collaborating with a seasoned low-code developer or other expert – to assist with complex work, manage increased testing requirements, and ensure effective governance.
Who makes up a fusion team?
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Project manager
Ensures project is completed on time and budget
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Business analyst
Gathers and translates application requirements
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Citizen developer
Develops and maintains app with low code
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Subject matter expert(s)
Represents the business function for the app
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Professional developer
Provides coaching and advanced configuration
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IT professional(s)
Manages the CI/CD pipeline, testing, and tuning
How are fusion teams different from citizen development?
Citizen development
Citizen developers are able to work on low-risk, low-complexity projects without ever needing to write a line of code. Governance should be lightweight and largely automated.
Fusion teams
Fusion teams are formed when app complexity and criticality are beyond what can be accomplished by citizen developers, but can be addressed by including relevant experts rather than delivering the app entirely out of IT.
Frequently Asked Questions about fusion teams
Building an effective fusion team involves selecting members with complementary skills, creating clear communication strategies, defining roles and responsibilities, fostering a collaborative culture, and providing a supportive environment for diverse perspectives.
Encouraging brainstorming sessions, promoting a culture of experimentation, and providing opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas from different disciplines can enhance creativity within fusion teams.
Metrics might include project completion time, quality of solutions, innovation outcomes, team member satisfaction, and the impact on the organization's goals.
