Blog It Forward – Maya Urman Bahar

Hi everyone,

I am Maya Urman Bahar.I recently returned from maternity leave to SAP labs Israel, and upon my return was delighted to learn that a chain of personal blogs from our beloved community was being formed.  Patiently, I waited until my turn would come, and I am so happy to finally be part of this amazing “Blog It Forward” initiative.

First, a great thanks to Katya Shmuel, who not only successfully filled in for me while I was away, but was also nice enough to invite me to participate in the

“Blog It Forward” challenge.

It has been more than 5 years since I started working for SAP and became part of the SAP Community family. It has been quite a journey and I am still as enthusiastic and motivated as the day I first stepped into the office.

A big part of that has to do with my great colleagues, but more than that is the fact that I am lucky enough to be working for a team which is not afraid to take risks and explore new frontiers . When SDN was founded, in 2003, social media was not common practice for a large corporation. In the last years, as part of the Business and Solution Team, I got to play a great role in designing and creating the future of SCN.

Just recently, I had a chance to embrace innovation and adopt cutting edge technology.  I helped create a revolutionary business analytics solution, based on the SAP HANA technology and newly released graphical tools, such as exploration view and mobile BI.  It was a thrilling experience, seeing ideas become reality.

This leads me directly to Katya’s question:

1. What is your personal life dream?

I consider myself an entrepreneur at heart and I would really like to found a startup company sometime in the future.

As an Israeli, this is really not an unusual dream. I come from a country, which produces more cutting edge technology per capita than any other population. Our culture encourages taking risks and innovation and we are considered a true start up nation.

I think a product manager is an entrepreneur within an organization. Each product is a chance to realize a dream, be it large or small. You have to follow your vision through and through, traveling a bumpy road. To get there, you will need to overcome obstacles, question givens and come up with original solutions. But the joy of reaching the destiny is totally worth the effort.

2. What are your most significant achievements in life (both personal and professional)?

My biggest achievement, no doubt, is my family.  I have 3 beautiful children and they are my greatest accomplishment.

Balancing my career with raising small children is very fulfilling. I take pride in being able to do both and still find time for hobbies and leisure (I run 10ks 3 times a week, go hiking with my family and spend time with friends).

My secret is that I don’t need much sleep 😉

3. What is the best lesson your parents taught you?

Set objectives and try to reach them. When you have a target, it sets direction and helps you get somewhere even if you do not necessarily achieve your goal. It is ok to change your purpose over time, but always have an aim.

With that I will continue the chain, blogging it forward to:

Jacob Klein

Safeer Mohiuddin

Daniel Wroblewski

Matt Johnson

1)     Iris Asheri

I am very curious to know:

1. What would you consider to be your ideal job, aside from your current one?
2. What is, in your mind, the best invention?
3. If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?