Adrian Bridgwater examines Microsoft’s push to turn fusion developers and business experts into full stack builders, highlighting Power Platform and AI’s pivotal roles in driving next-gen software collaboration.

Microsoft Morphs Fusion Developers To Full Stack Builders

Author: Adrian Bridgwater

Microsoft is shifting the way application development teams operate, enabling business ‘laypersons’—or citizen developers—to influence core software functionality through innovative approaches like fusion development teams and AI-powered platforms.

Fusion Development Explained

Fusion development teams bring together business domain experts and software engineers, encouraging collaboration through low-code and no-code tools. Microsoft’s Power Platform and Power Apps serve as entry points for users to build applications using sketches, sentences, or simple graphical interfaces. This strategy democratizes software creation and supports rapid prototyping and modification, often bridging the gap between business needs and technical delivery.

The Role of AI and Agentic Services

Recent advancements in agentic AI enable business functionalities to be translated directly into executable code. As these services learn and improve, business users (citizen developers) can change applications’ structure, moving from basic UI tweaks to manifesting complex business logic. AI now dissolves traditional silos between engineers, product managers, and data scientists, allowing individuals to ideate, prototype, and validate more efficiently.

Amanda Silver (Microsoft developer division CVP) and Ryan Cunningham (Microsoft Power Platform CVP) stress that Power Platform provides the necessary scaffolding for full-stack development, integrating business operations with technical expertise for faster time-to-market.

Engineering Scaffolding and Safeguards

Organizations must invest in engineering systems and establish ‘scaffolding’—supportive infrastructure like well-defined interfaces, testing frameworks, and guardrails. This ensures AI agents act responsibly when modifying business-critical systems and can understand the wider organizational context. Boundaries and safeguards protect overall system integrity even as more businesspeople participate in development.

DevOps and Continuous Delivery Impact

Fusion development and agentic AI promote simpler, standardized applications through collaborative efforts, leaving experienced engineers to tackle complex tasks. The approach aligns closely with DevOps principles—speed, integration, and continuous deployment.

“AI is collapsing the walls between roles. Product managers, engineers and data scientists are no longer operating in silos. With AI, a single person can now ideate, prototype and validate tasks that once required a full cross-functional team…” — Amit Gupte, Microsoft Program Manager

By integrating AI into DevOps workflows, Microsoft envisions a future workspace where full-stack development is accessible, efficient, and secure.

Key Takeaways

Fusion Development Teams: Collaboration between business experts and engineers via Power Platform
Citizen Development: Democratized access to app creation through low-code/no-code and natural language inputs
AI Integration: Agentic AI services automatically translating business requirements into code
Engineering Scaffolding: Infrastructure and safeguards for responsible AI-powered software modification
DevOps Synergy: Streamlined, standardized app delivery and continuous integration
Guardrails & Meta-Knowledge: Contextual understanding in AI workflows to avoid breaking systems