Mendix Unveils “Low-Code Manifesto,” the Defining Document for the Movement that is Redefining Software Development

Low-code addresses the challenges enterprises face as they struggle with the pressing digital imperatives in the marketplace

Low-Code Manifesto enumerates the platform requirements needed for success

BOSTON – JANUARY 22, 2020 Mendix, a Siemens business and the global leader In enterprise low-code, today published “The Low-Code Manifesto,” the industry’s only comprehensive document setting forth the core ideas and principles that define a bona fide low-code platform. The competitive pressure for enterprises to digitalize is more urgent than ever, yet few have the technological and developer resources needed to successfully innovate. The low-code platform was developed to streamline and accelerate the application development process, particularly by leveraging all of an enterprise’s human capital including retraining and upskilling workers, a serious concern of top market CEOs, while creating a truly collaborative and agile development environment. The Low-Code Manifesto codifies what is required in a platform that many analysts believe will set the future course of software development.

Over a decade ago, Mendix’s founders began building a model-driven development platform capable of bridging the divide between what businesses needed and what software was delivering. From the beginning, they established and have followed a set of principles designed to make software development more relevant to business needs while at the same time easier and faster to build and maintain.

The Low-Code Manifesto follows in the tradition of other technology treatises that have formally set out the defining principles of a philosophy or movement, most notably the similarly eponymous Agile Manifesto, which developers have long-embraced. The Low-Code Manifesto sets out these five core application development pillars, which in turn support the Nine Foundational Principles of Low-Code Application Development:

  1. Focus on business impact.
    Create alignment, achieve clarity, succeed quickly.
  2. Unleash all the makers from across the enterprise.
    No brain power goes to waste.
  3. Do everything with an agile attitude.
    Empower small teams, build for the cloud, deploy swiftly and often.
  4. Assemble from existing business capabilities.
    Utilize established assets, don’t default to building from scratch.
  5. Connect everything.
    APIs, integrations, new ways to access data — be open and accessible.

“Our guiding principles, when combined, define a new way of creating software — one that leverages all the talent available on both the business and IT sides,” said Johan den Haan, chief technology officer at Mendix. “These principles foster collaboration from beginning-to-end and harness the ambitions of agile workflows and DevOps to deliver all the power and functionality that software is capable of with unprecedented speed, quality, and efficiency.”

In the coming weeks, Mendix will introduce a more in-depth look into each of the nine principles, from both business and technical perspectives. Check back here to learn more from our experts and read their explanations of why each principle is important, how they work in practice, and how they work together to create success in our connected, digital world.

    About Mendix

    Mendix, a Siemens business, is the only low-code platform designed to address the full complexity of enterprise software development challenges. Deploying point solutions to departmental problems solves things at a micro level—but if you want to make a significant impact on your business, you need to go bigger and build powerful portfolios that move the needle sustainably and strategically.

    With Mendix, enterprises can take on more complex, transformational initiatives by engaging everyone in capturing requirements, forming ideas, and embedding value assessment throughout the lifecycle of the software portfolio.

    Focus on the right problems while relying on governance and control to avoid unnecessary risk. Mobilize your organization. Build the change readiness muscle. And when the next big idea drops, turn it into an outcome quicker.

    More than 4,000 organizations in 46 countries use the Mendix low-code platform. An active community of over 300,000 developers has created over 950,000 applications – and counting.