Part of the problem is that the novices that create these applications don't consider all the edge cases and gnarly non-golden-path situations, but the experienced devs do. So the novice slaps together something that does 95% of the job with 5% of the effort, but when it goes wrong the department calls in IT to fix it, and that means doing the rest of the 95% of the effort. The result is that IT is seen as being slow and bureaucratic, when in fact they're just doing the fecking job properly.
If you want a developer to write good code quickly, put them in an isolated silo and don't disturb them.
If you want a developer to engage with the business units more, be prepared for their productivity to drop sharply.
As with all things in tech, it's a trade-off.
I disagree: it's a business prioritisation issue (not necessarily a problem). Ultimately, a lot of the processes are there because the wider business (rightly) wants IT to work on the highest impact issues. A random process that 3 people suffer from probably isn't the highest impact for the business as a whole.
Also, because it's not high impact, it makes sense that an intern is co-opted to make life easier (also as a learning experience), however it also causes the issues OP highlighted.
The problem is solvable, I think, but it's not easily solvable!
Which is a huge reason that learning a RAD (rapid application development - emphasis on rapid) tool is a pretty useful skill.
You need a structure if you have org of 100+ employees. If it is smaller than that I don’t believe you get dev department.