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Author's profile photo Michelle Crapo

Sap Community – Can you make a difference?

The SAP Community was sinking at least according to me.  I wrote this blog in 2017.  I also wrote a couple of blogs about how it is doing better and what the community means to me.

So can one person make a difference?  Yes.  Can a group of people make a difference?  Absolutely.   The new SAP Champions team was introduced with this blog.

And so you grumble and mumble under your breath, so what?  Really another group of people who think they are better than us.  Or something like that….

That just means,  I get to write another blog.  These are just my opinions.  They are not official – not like Katarine’s blog.

Myths:

Think they are better than me:

I don’t.  I’m pretty sure none of the other champions think that.  Champion – “A person who fights or argues for a cause or on behalf of someone else.”  Cool, huh?  If you have a boiling question or I get many complaints about something.  I will try to bring them to the attention of the powers behind the scenes.

Just another group

Are we just another layer? Yes, I believe we are. I’m going to try to “watch you”. Talk with you through blogs and comments.  All the time?  No, I do have a day job.

They can’t actually help change

Well, that’s one of the many reasons I said yes to this. I believe that this group of people can help bring about change.

For me that doesn’t mean fix all the technical errors. Because I personally can’t do that. I will ask for you if you have a certain one that is just driving you crazy.

They will help bring back SDN

No, I’m not trying for that.  But I think we can move forward and make this community even better than the old one. After all we have so much more in the SAP world. So many toys to play with.

More Myths?

Feel free to take a few minutes and respond in the comment section. Positive or negative – I’ll take both.

Conclusion:

The Champions are amazing.  I’m still not sure why I was included, but I’m really happy about it. In case you are still wondering? I really believe in the community. I believe there will be more members.  In fact there are daily. I believe that some – not all – of the members will come back. We need them.

Now I turn it over to you. What do you want done?  What do you like?

 

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      12 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Nil Peksen
      Nil Peksen

      Congrats! I really liked this blog post but I’d honestly like to explain if the matter keeping the community alive or bring back SDN days, a lot of people are doing great things and most of them doing all those stuff without any title (Champion or Mentor).

      We may consider the Champions program bringing fresh blood to the stage and motive push forward them. 

      On the other hand, I strongly believe that SAP needs to open and support this kind of programs more often with a clear explanation about titles and their responsibilities. Sadly, SDN days and forum culture out of date. This is not only SAP related struggle. Our sharing, caring methods are dramatically changed (Youtube, Twitter, etc)

      If SAP needs to keep alive SAP community they need to find out and support enthusiastic ones for the community sake.

      In my case,  I have been community member since 2006 but I was not an active member, I was reading blog posts sometimes finding myself in funny conversations and mostly asking technical questions, that’s it. However, last year I won the SAP Scholarship and my life totally changed! After Teched, I understood exactly what community means and doing my best to keep community spirit alive since last year.

      These motivational programs and even Teched Scholarships may cause a life-changing experience. So we all need to support and even propose to open new programs by SAP 🙂

      Author's profile photo Phil Cooley
      Phil Cooley

      Nicely stated Nilay Peksen and I know you are already making alot of positive contributions in the SAP Community. Keep it up as we need more people providing overall support. Well done!

      Author's profile photo Michelle Crapo
      Michelle Crapo
      Blog Post Author

      Totally agree.  There are so many good things already here.  I echo Phil's comment - keep it up.  It means so much to see comments and posts and....  really anything that is now residing here.

      Author's profile photo Veselina Peykova
      Veselina Peykova

      What exactly do you plan on doing as a SAP Champion to make a difference (something that you did not or could not do before you became a part of the program)?

      Author's profile photo Michelle Crapo
      Michelle Crapo
      Blog Post Author

      So...

      I have rolled this around in my head a bit.  What will I do that I didn't do before?  I have several different answers, and I'm not sure any of them describe it.  AND remember at this point we are just starting.  So for me here it goes.

      1. Be able to support others.
        1. If I see a trend - which I do at times - push it up as far as I can reach in the SAP sphere, to see if I can get some support. Or an answer to why things are done they way they are. I could already do that.  But I'm hoping the champions program will bring some more weight to what I'm saying.  I can also bounce things off of them to see if they are seeing the same thing.
        2. There may only be one comment sent to me via messages. But that one comment is really good.  And makes sense to me. (Sorry, I'm the one supporting it here) So again it gives me a bit more leverage.
      2. Hope others read and comment on blogs like this one. I plan on writing more general blogs. Could I have done that before? Yes, but I always wondered if they were well received or just considered "blah, blah, blah" the same old thing.
      3. There are some people that leave and no one appears to notice.  I do. I want to give voice to those people that may have left without saying why. If I can dig out some contact information for them I can try.  Again it may add more power to it to have better support.

      Are you seeing a theme here? Basically what I couldn't do before was push things forward or see where they stood. Yes, sometimes I begged for answers from certain people.  And since they are cool they answered.  But I couldn't officially move things forward.  That's what I want to do. I want to have better communication between you and the SAP team.  Perhaps not you because you do write to them. But there are those without a voice or that are new and just finding there voice.

      There was someone here who I called "my hero" Marilyn Pratt.   She influenced and continues to influence so many people. For me - she inspired me.  She wanted to make a difference and she did.  I hope this team will help me be able to be a tenth of an inspiration as she was.  This was written by another person I'm a big fan of - Leave the place better than you found it.

      So there you have it...  Not a lot of difference.  Just hoping to have more "influence".

      Author's profile photo Veselina Peykova
      Veselina Peykova

      With the risk of sounding rude and ungrateful - I would appreciate more technical blogs from you.. 🙂

      Author's profile photo Michelle Crapo
      Michelle Crapo
      Blog Post Author

      Not at all ---  I'm working on some projects that I think I can write some technical blogs on too!   Yes, I wonder about fluffy blogs.  But some of them are needed...

      At some point I'll stop fighting with BRF+ and CDS and write something up.  😉

      So glad you commented,

      Michelle

      Author's profile photo Matt Fraser
      Matt Fraser

      Asking for more blogs from someone seems quite the opposite of rude and ungrateful! 🙂

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Palavalli
      Mahesh Palavalli

      Quote from your blog "A person who fights or argues for a cause or on behalf of someone else" . I've read couple of your blogs where you pointed out how some people respond in not so positive way to some questions in Q&A and asked them to chill out. I am pretty sure that it is one of the reason why u got selected for this 🙂 🙂 and more over your blogs are always inspiring others to to be active in the community 🙂

      and Congrats!!

      Author's profile photo Michelle Crapo
      Michelle Crapo
      Blog Post Author

      Thank you!   You've helped me out more than you know.  Yes, I do respond with positive and hopefully construct negative comments.

      Author's profile photo Nabheet Madan
      Nabheet Madan

      Super blog Michelle Crapo pitching in my 2 cents

      • Does not matter what shape this SAP community has been whether SDN/SCN etc.. one thing which always remains during this whole evolution is, this community always helped its members technically or in what ever way it can.
      • The need for improvement will always exist even it is the best community, important is for everyone to stay positive and try to bring in the impact in a positive way. Constructive feedbacks are always welcome
      • A community always strives to have the right balance of haves and haves not and this is what we are always trying to do.

      Nabheet

      Author's profile photo Michelle Crapo
      Michelle Crapo
      Blog Post Author

      I agree.  If we strive towards making this a good community - it will be one.