At the recent European Power Platform Conference we spoke about our take on the rise of the Maker Movement and how it’s helping people solve problems and create value. The crowd's reaction to this new approach to empowerment and the communities it creates was very positive. There’s a genuine engagement with the topic and an obvious appetite for the art of possible so we wanted to share some thoughts for getting started.

What is The Maker Movement?
Maker culture is technology-based DIY; citizens as developers, changing the shape of their work and solving business problems, DIY style. Beyond citizen development, it’s a continuous model that harnesses behaviour and culture change. Inspiring through storytelling; and enabling maker behaviours through education and problem solving; reinforcing maker behaviours through sharing and celebrating; and embedding maker behaviours throughout the organisation.

For us at Avanade the premise is simple: Start small, solve some problems, learn, grow, celebrate, then do it again and again and again.

Identify the makers and inspire them to come to you
If you’re running the Microsoft Power Platform, you’ll see there will be natural innovators and experimenters using the tools to solve business problems themselves. Initiate a positive dialogue with these people; it’s a great starting point. Connect with them, support their learning-by-doing, provide training, help them to share their experience and discover more makers. By identifying the Platform champions and helping them mature you’ll create a culture of making.

Create community and establish cultural change
Real value from Power Platform comes via community and culture beyond makers and developers. It’s about fostering an authentic culture of open innovation, collaboration, and learning.

Gather ‘can-do’ people across leadership, governance, architects. You’ll need diverse skills to make rounded, safe and secure solutions to create a community where anyone can share ideas, ask questions and find help from their peers.
At Avanade engagements have community and people empowerment front and centre. We often start with sessions like ‘App in a day’ and ‘Flow in a Day’. We then help clients nurture knowledge sharing and help makers identify problems they might solve with the Power Platform.

Psychological safety within the community is critical. Not everything will be a success. It’s OK to fail fast and try again. These principles must be community tenets, after all while the solution itself brings value so too does the learning.

As the community grows, so too does the number of makers. More solutions are created, there’s more learning and the value increases in a continuous cycle. In a previous life at GSK, I started a MS Power Platform community with eight enthusiasts. It’s now over 3000 strong, with strong links to various industry organisations and direct engagement with Microsoft.

The governance balancing act
You need to create an agile and innovation led mindset giving employees the time, environment and ‘permission’ to try things out, share ideas and problem solve. However, the delicate balance between innovation and governance is a dance where you must ensure innovation drives progress within digital guard rails that ensure responsible and sustainable use of the Power Platform giving your people a safe place for solutions to be made in the proper way.

The Avanade low code Centre of Excellence (COE) approach covers everything from governance, compliance, security and privacy through to vendor management and platform operations. In parallel, enablement is all about connecting people through an energised community, supporting and coaching for success, inspiring makers and leaders, educating and learning, and celebrating success.

Storytelling and celebration
The Power Platform and Maker Movement’s ambition to unlock and democratise technology may seem at odds with the more traditional, naturally cautious approach to technology and aversion to shadow IT. This is where storytelling is so powerful and much needed in overcoming perception and concerns. Celebrate loudly, show examples that amplify possibilities, amplify maker activities that dovetail with governance. Talk about not only the builds but the people. Use storytelling to attract others and reinforce maker behaviours.

Perception of value
Value comes in many forms. Faster time-to-market, reduced reliance on IT teams, and the associated cost savings - evident ROI. Organisational value through the new apps and flows that increase productivity and output. Interwoven are benefits for individuals, empowering DIY problem-solving, making an individual’s job more interesting, giving them freedom in the way they work or digital skills they value. These will also raise productivity and boost talent retention. Digital transformation isn’t just about IT, processes and tools - it’s about transforming people and embedding an innovation mindset. It’s a powerful way to harness the collective wisdom, imagination, and inspiration of your people. That’s where the real value is found.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you to embrace The Maker Movement in your organisation.