Stefan Helzle is the author of Low-Code Application Development with Appian; we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What are your specialist tech areas?
Stefan: Low-Code enterprise development with Appian
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Stefan: I have been approached by Packt and could not resist.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Stefan: I did not have to do much research as I am doing Appian trainings and mentoring since 8 years, so I tried to extract the best of it and write it down.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Stefan: I already had a good structure in mind, but transforming that into a book is still a challenge. I tried to stay with the book writing guides Packt provides and did a bit of research on other best practices.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Stefan: Enterprise software will be 80% based on implementing business processes in software. Low-code with Appian will make that extremely efficient and flexible.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Stefan: I think this is the first book about Appian. And I tried hard to make this a book helping the reader become a successful Appian designer. That is not just a matter of understanding the technology, but to be able to support the business transform a process directly into software.
Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?
Stefan: Low-code is the future. Low-code is still software development, but without the hassle..
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Stefan: docs.appian.com, academy.appian.com
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Stefan: I got great support from the project team, and I would write my next book with Packt.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Stefan: SAppian Community: community.appian.com
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Stefan: arstechnica.com, heise.de, hackernoon.com, medium.com
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Stefan: I used the software Ulysses as the primary tool.
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Stefan: Get yourself into the perspective of the readers and address their needs.
