A citizen developer is a non-IT employee or business user (without formal programming training) who creates, customizes, or automates applications, workflows, or digital solutions using low-code/no-code tools, often to address business needs quickly while collaborating with IT for governance and security.
"What Is a Citizen Developer?" ServiceNow, www.servicenow.com/workflows/creator-workflows/what-is-a-citizen-developer.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Compliance in software/IT contexts refers to adhering to relevant laws, regulations, standards, policies, and best practices (e.g., data privacy like GDPR, security frameworks, industry-specific rules) during development, deployment, and operation to avoid legal risks, penalties, or operational issues.
"What Is Compliance?" IBM, www.ibm.com/think/topics/compliance. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Scope creep (also called feature creep) is the uncontrolled or continuous expansion of a project's scope—adding features, requirements, or functionalities—after the project has started, without proper approval, impact assessment, or adjustments to time, cost, or resources, often leading to delays, budget overruns, and reduced success.
"Top Five Causes of Scope Creep." Project Management Institute, 12 Oct. 2009, www.pmi.org/learning/library/top-five-causes-scope-creep-6675. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
In agile methodologies (e.g., Scrum), the product owner is a key role responsible for maximizing product value by defining and prioritizing the product backlog, representing stakeholder needs, clarifying requirements, and making decisions on features and direction.
"The Triple Constraint." Project Management Institute, www.pmi.org/learning/library/triple-constraint-erroneous-useless-value-8024. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
A programming language is a formal set of syntax, semantics, and rules used by developers to write instructions (source code) that computers can interpret or compile to perform computations, build applications, or automate tasks.
"What Is a Programming Language?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/programming-languages. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Low-code/no-code (LCNC) environments are development platforms that enable rapid application creation using visual drag-and-drop interfaces, pre-built components, and minimal (low-code) or no (no-code) manual coding, empowering both professional developers and citizen developers to build apps faster with less technical expertise.
"What Is Low-Code vs. No-Code?" IBM, www.ibm.com/think/topics/low-code-vs-no-code. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is the comprehensive assessment of all direct and indirect costs associated with acquiring, operating, maintaining, supporting, and eventually disposing of an IT system, software, or asset over its full lifecycle, including purchase, implementation, training, upgrades, and downtime.
"What Is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?" IBM, www.ibm.com/think/topics/total-cost-of-ownership. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
The triple constraint (also iron triangle) in project management refers to the interdependent factors of scope (what is delivered), time (schedule), and cost (budget); changes to one typically impact the others, requiring trade-offs to maintain project balance and success.
"The Triple Constraint." Project Management Institute, www.pmi.org/learning/library/triple-constraint-erroneous-useless-value-8024. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is a structured process framework outlining phases for planning, designing, building, testing, deploying, and maintaining software applications, ensuring systematic development from requirements to retirement.
"What Is Software Development Lifecycle?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/sdlc. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Software development methodologies are frameworks or approaches (e.g., Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, DevOps) guiding the process of planning, executing, and managing software projects, including practices for requirements, design, coding, testing, and delivery.
"What Is Agile?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/agile. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Systems analysis and design is the process of examining business problems/needs, gathering requirements, modeling processes/data, and designing information systems/solutions to meet those needs effectively and efficiently.
General MIS contexts; cross-referenced with IBM glossaries on development processes.
Requirements determination (or elicitation/gathering) is the phase in systems development where stakeholders' needs, functional/non-functional requirements, constraints, and expectations are identified, documented, and validated to form the basis for design and implementation.
"What Is Requirements Management?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/requirements-management. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Diseconomies of scale in software/IT projects occur when increasing project size, team size, or complexity leads to disproportionately higher costs, lower productivity per unit, communication overhead, coordination challenges, and reduced efficiency (opposite of economies of scale in manufacturing).
"Software Has Diseconomies of Scale — Not Economies of Scale." Medium (Allan Kelly), medium.com/@allankellynet/software-has-diseconomies-of-scale-not-economies-of-scale-6509b9d4e9e5. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Brook's Law states that "adding manpower to a late software project makes it later," due to ramp-up time, communication overhead, and disrupted productivity when more people are added to an already delayed project.
"Brooks's Law." DevIQ, deviq.com/laws/brooks-law. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Resource allocation is the process of assigning and distributing available resources (e.g., people, time, budget, tools) to project tasks/activities in an optimal way to meet objectives, constraints, and priorities.
"What Is Resource Allocation?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/resource-allocation. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Iterative development is an approach where software is built in repeated cycles (iterations), each producing a working increment with added features, allowing for feedback, refinement, and adaptation throughout the process (core to agile).
"What Is Agile?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/agile. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Waterfall methodology is a linear, sequential software development approach with distinct phases (requirements, design, implementation, verification, maintenance) completed one after another, with limited flexibility for changes once a phase ends.
"What Is Waterfall?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/waterfall. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Prototyping is the creation of early, simplified versions (prototypes) of a system or application to test concepts, gather user feedback, validate requirements, and refine design before full development.
"What Is Prototyping?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/prototyping. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Wireframing is the practice of creating basic, skeletal layouts or blueprints (wireframes) of user interfaces/screens to outline structure, functionality, navigation, and content placement without detailed design elements.
"What Is Wireframing?" IBM, www.ibm.com/topics/wireframing. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
Governance principles in IT/software contexts are foundational guidelines and frameworks ensuring alignment of technology initiatives with business goals, risk management, compliance, resource oversight, decision-making authority, and accountability (e.g., for citizen development or cloud projects).
"What Is IT Governance?" IBM, www.ibm.com/think/topics/it-governance. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
1. A marketing student at UT builds a simple event registration app using a drag-and-drop platform without writing code. She quickly automates sign-ups and sends confirmation emails, even though she has no programming background. The IT department later reviews her app to ensure it meets security standards. Which concept BEST describes the student's role in this situation?
2. A student startup begins building an app with a clear set of features and a strict deadline. Midway through development, team members keep adding new features without adjusting the timeline or budget. As a result, the project falls behind schedule and becomes harder to manage. Which concept BEST explains what is happening?
3. A project team is behind schedule on a major app. To fix the delay, the manager adds several new developers to the team. However, progress slows even further because existing team members must spend time training the new hires and coordinating work. Which concept BEST explains this outcome?
4. A student team is designing a mobile app and creates simple screen layouts showing where buttons, menus, and text will go. These layouts do not include colors or detailed design, but they help the team agree on how users will navigate the app. Which concept BEST describes this activity?
5. A company is developing a new system and decides to release small working versions of the product every few weeks. After each release, they gather user feedback and improve the system in the next cycle. This allows them to adapt quickly to changing needs. Which concept BEST describes this approach?