My small story!
Introduction
September 22, 2008. That was the day of my first blog in the BPX Community. I have completed one year by September 2009. It seems a nice day to feel happy, to thankfully recollect certain events and persons, and to learn a lesson or two.
The achievements and the observations
As on date I have posted 28 blogs. Two of them were ‘Featured'. I am one of the Top Contributors in 2009! In fact I used to keep looking at the readership statistics regularly! While rejoicing about the achievement, the following quote threw some light on how to proceed further:
(The quote is with respect to a Higher Education Institute.)
"A continuum of Internet use, starts from presentation (by self or others) and moves to interaction (peer review and critique of work of themselves and others) to generation (where new work is created as the systematic response to other information and participants)."
This piece of writing I found while looking for some material on ‘Maturity of Usage' as a topic.
Seeing from this perspective, I seem to have contributed in all the three areas:
- - I have posted blogs, which are presentational;
- - My comments in the Forum on Sustainability may be termed as interactive.
- - My contribution in Collaborative Workplace found a place in the book ‘Process First'. This may be called generative!
Whatever I have done so far, I have done without thinking in those lines; now to know the words - Presentational, Interactive and Generative - it is interesting. Hence in future it appears that I have to proceed with the above knowledge and balance the three areas! I wonder that this may apply to other members of SCN also!
Looking back at the track
I used to pick up the journal, ‘SAP Info' from my daughter regularly for an avid reading, as my date with IT is from the day of punch cards as a user department person.
My interest in BPX started with reading of the article on Business Process Expert in 'SAP Info' of September 2006! The theme was appealing as it dovetailed with my work experience. I became a member of BPX Community but could not contribute due to other engagements. But the thoughts remained.
I mailed some of my thoughts to Paul Kurchina, getting to know him thru an article in SAP Info. Pat came a reply and I felt happy for it appeared my first contact with SAP, one of the companies I admired.
The theme of my mail to him was:
"IT has played its role in the area of ‘transactions'. It must move on to strategic and Board issues to be of more meaningful. SAP Business Process Platform appeared to be the place where things may be accommodated so that companies , small and big, are enabled to travel a path wherein they address transactional issues with ease and take up strategic issues, one after another and mature to, if we may call it so, a liberated organization. IT helped to manage data, information and knowledge. Now it may be time to move on to manage wisdom of the people in the organizations and make them wiser."
It appears now that this must have sounded very ambitious! I too realize it so now after having tried to elaborate on it and every other thought one by one! But the theme continues to strike a chord to contribute to a ‘wise, wiser and wiser world!' While making a search for work going on in this field it is found to be formative but substantial. But certainly work is going on in this subject of ‘Organizational Wisdom' and hence Business Rules Management may have good opportunity to help for better corporate decisions in the days ahead. I would even like to think ‘www' to stand for ‘wiser and wiser world'. (I Hope to post a few blogs on the search findings shortly.)
After having been in touch with Paul, it was Kieren O'Connor's blog on REACH Compliance that drew my attention and I sent a long comment expressing my pet thought, 'Going Beyond Compliance!' I used to think that's the way to liberate a company from regulations! In response he urged me to post blogs in BPX and provided me with basic tips too. He also introduced me to the Collaborative Workplace!
During the course of the year I picked up interest in BPM and later on in Sustainability and CSR. I still revisit the presentation Ann Rosenberg made at SAP Community Day 2008 at Bangalore.Of course writing on ISO Standard on Management Systems remains my base camp.
Of the many blogs that I follow, Puneet Suppal's blogs under ‘Café Innovation' remains my favourite.
So far many are pleased with what I write - Paul, Kieren, Marilyn, Mark, Richard, Sriram, Amar and my daughter! The author, Donna Kennedy's appreciation has been special. With such encouragement and appreciation, hope to be around for some more time as the theme I started is yet to be elaborated and new topics are getting added!
Sam Anbazhagan
