Mendix Low-Code Manifesto: Principles of Low-Code App Development

The Low-Code Manifesto

Technology, and the role it plays in the business landscape, is an ever-evolving juggernaut. Core systems and business challenges are progressively complex. The pace of that evolution increases exponentially — what is fast right now will be glacial in hindsight.

To keep up, you must build and deploy innovative, timely solutions. We believe that building solutions with low-code makes that possible. We believe software should be built well. We believe it should deliver business value. We believe it should be delivered at speed.

To make this happen at scale we adhere to these Application Development Pillars:

Focus on business impact

Create alignment, achieve clarity, succeed quickly.
No brain power goes to waste

Unleash all the makers from across the enterprise.
Do everything with an agile attitude

Empower small teams, build for the cloud, deploy swiftly and often.
Assemble from existing business capabilities

Utilize established assets, don’t default to building from scratch.
Connect everything and everybody

APIs, integrations, new ways to access data — be open and accessible.

We know low-code is capable of building valuable solutions at speed, but as with any tool, it needs to be used correctly to get the best results. We defined the following 9 Principles of Low-Code Application Developmentto empower makers from the enterprise to the dorm room to build software that makes a difference.

The 9 Essential Principles

Mendix is at the forefront of philosophical thought on low-code, setting the standards by which low-code platforms should be judged. The less we push ourselves into this, the greater value it will have for all our audiences — prospects, customers, the media, potential employees.

Model-Driven Development

Transform ideas into applications that deliver business value through abstraction, automation, and openness.
Collaboration

Leverage a shared visual language to support the interchange of knowledge and ideas between business domain experts and developers.
Agility

Manage the full enterprise application development lifecycle with agile workstreams to eliminate bottlenecks, support iterative delivery and achieve shortest time-to-value.
The Cloud

Cloud enables the ease and speed of application deployment that customers demand.
Openness

Anything can be integrated with an agnostic enterprise application development platform – this removes limitations on what can be built.
Multi-User Development

Multiple developers should be able to work on an application at the same time. The platform must support and synchronize their work streams.
Experimentation & Innovation

Development tools need to be affordable and nimble so innovators everywhere can experiment, explore, and create.
Governance & Control

Robust governance and control processes and protocols are essential.
Community

A platform without a community is no platform at all.