It was indeed a joke. Appian is a “low/no-code” platform (that surprisingly requires quite a bit of code) used to build shitty customer service workflows. It is tailored for non-technical people and sold as a cost effective solution to clueless executives. It is the kind of software solution that body shops like infosys, accenture, etc love because they can load up lots of low skill people on the project (but charge the client as if they were higher skilled). The result of this arrangement is mediocre at best. Additional changes or scope creep drags out these kinds of projects. Because the system was built with low-skill there aren’t the same considerations given for readability, extensibility and all of the other good software development practices that enable future velocity. Again, another win for the body shops as they can’t deliver the changes the client wants fast enough. So now there is this parasitic body shop attached at your company’s hip after Appian is deeply ingrained into your business processes. It is exactly the kind of penny-wise, pound foolish thinking (“I can hire lots of non-engineers for one engineers salary!”) that ends up costing way more in the long run.
I thought it was a joke about the software making work much less efficient?
It was indeed a joke. Appian is a “low/no-code” platform (that surprisingly requires quite a bit of code) used to build shitty customer service workflows. It is tailored for non-technical people and sold as a cost effective solution to clueless executives. It is the kind of software solution that body shops like infosys, accenture, etc love because they can load up lots of low skill people on the project (but charge the client as if they were higher skilled). The result of this arrangement is mediocre at best. Additional changes or scope creep drags out these kinds of projects. Because the system was built with low-skill there aren’t the same considerations given for readability, extensibility and all of the other good software development practices that enable future velocity. Again, another win for the body shops as they can’t deliver the changes the client wants fast enough. So now there is this parasitic body shop attached at your company’s hip after Appian is deeply ingrained into your business processes. It is exactly the kind of penny-wise, pound foolish thinking (“I can hire lots of non-engineers for one engineers salary!”) that ends up costing way more in the long run.
TL;DR: Appian is a wage suppression grift.