Hi all!

I’m delighted about this nice opportunity to introduce myself to the community and I have to thank Nisha Sharma and Jitendra Kansalfor blogging it forward to me: "Blog It Forward- Nisha Sharma",  Blog It Forward - Jitendra Kansal

So, let me begin with answering some of the questions Nisha and Jitendra threw at me:

1) If you could be a super hero (or are in your spare time) who would you be?

I'd be Mr. NetClean, the brilliant guy, who frees the world from the scourge of Viruses, SPAM, Trojans and other malware Image may be NSFW.
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2) What do you enjoy most in your work and why?

• The moments, when combining technology, process and people skills creates a solution beyond the customer’s expectations, because they are not used to people looking at their problems and opportunities holistically.
• Working with an inspiring and fun bunch of people.

3) What makes you laugh?

Really witty puns or clever jokes. My current favourite is:
“There is a party for mathematical functions in the pub. All the functions are dancing or chatting – only e^x sits at the bar all alone. The landlord asks it: “Why don’t you go and integrate a bit?” e^x replies: “I’ve tried – it doesn’t make a difference.” o.k. - it's a wee bit geeky, but luv it Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

I also love British comedy – probably the most important reason for me to live in this country Image may be NSFW.
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4) Had you not been into software at all, where would you have been?

I’d be a teacher – or a philosopher.

Fun and other facts about me, my countries and my career

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My childhood hometown

• I was born and raised in Ottweiler, a small town in the small German state of Saarland. It’s a rural area with a formerly strong coal and steel industry just in terminal decline. That made the air cleaner, but people (for German standards) relatively poor. But they are lovely and known for their down to earth hospitality.
• Go and visit, when you are in the area (e.g. from Luxembourg is just a few miles away) – you may want to see the old Steelworks in Völklingen, which are now a UN cultural world heritage and you must join a BBQ (if need be, they do it under an umbrella) - they just don't call it BBQ, or Grill - NEVER. It's a Schwenker!

My career

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• As a student I did all kinds of jobs. Delivering leaflets, working in construction and manufacturing, teaching horse riding, writing for newspapers, teaching Maths and Physics, breeding and selling rabbits (well, there was the butchering involved between these two steps, which didn’t necessarily make you very popular with the girls: Yes, I killed Peter Rabbit).
• Having studied Business and Information Technology at the local university I started my career as an SAP HR consultant at IDS Scheer in Saarbrücken in 1996. I’ve worked in HCM projects with more than 75 customers since, which makes me feel pretty old Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.
• In 2000 my former boss and I left to start iProCon, which has grown into a very effective team of SAP HCM consultants since. A good life-balance proposition for the team and high quality for the customers where always ranking above growth, so it’s still a flexible small boutique consultancy without the red tape and customer-unfriendly sales-culture you find so often elsewhere.

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My new home"town"

• With some stops in between I moved to London in 2009. It wasn’t even a beneficial move financially, but I just love this city. I hate it, too – I think every Londoner does, but I love it much more and when I’m away for a couple of weeks, I’m always itching to come back. It’s difficult to say why. I guess it’s the mix of people (allegedly the most diverse city in the world), the mix of history and modern themes, the buzz and, yes, the weather isn’t that bad either, believe it or not.
• Possibly the best time of my life were the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The atmosphere was unbelievable. It also offered an opportunity to share my passion for the city by helping visitors as a London Ambassador volunteer. Well, they put us into quite ridiculous uniforms, but you can’t have everything.
• Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view. Fun fact: Officially >3000 Jedi live in the London Borough of Southwark, where I live. That makes it the strongest "alternative" faith with 1.25% of the population Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.. In the whole of the UK, the 2001 census counted more than 300,000 Jedi. This is due to a half-joking movement to answer the "religion" question on the census form with "Jedi". The motivation was a mixture of just for fun, ridiculing the census and expressing dis-satisfaction with traditional organised religion. What I wrote into this field? It's a secret. But then - you know already, don't you Image may be NSFW.
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Job again

• I collected some experience in organisational change projects along the way and also had a brilliant experience with the execMBA program at Cranfield School of Management, which changed my outlook on business and life in general quite a lot.
• Today, I’m focused on SAP HCM again as director of the iProCon subsidiary in UK (which means that a former employee of mine in Germany is now director there and therefore my boss, but I never understood the obsession many people have with hierarchy anyway. If there ever was good leadership anywhere, than it was situational and skills based, not organisational and hierarchy based).
• I love the opportunity to work in an international context and therefore, international rollout projects with all their cultural challenges are my favourites.

Sharing and the SCN

• I always loved sharing. It's very rewarding. In our team, we have established a very strong collaboration culture supported by the right technology. But it goes beyond our little team. I write a lot for our blog and newsletter, co-authored several SAP PRESS books including the first HR book ever in 2001, speak at conferences on a regular basis and really, really enjoy our regular discussions in the SAP HCM Insights Podcastwith such brilliant people as Steve Bogner, Martin Gillet, Luke Marson, J. Pazahanick, Mark Ingram and Brandon Toombs. I’m also convinced that you have to give something back, if you were lucky enough to join such an industry at a good time and can make a nice career out of it, but first and foremost, sharing and collaboration are fun.
• To be perfectly honest, I didn’t engage on the SCN for a long time – it was only last summer that I really started. When I looked at it earlier, I was just annoyed by the large number of low-quality posts and the points-hunting. Well, these things are still going on, but I acknowledged that the SCN is probably one of the best platforms to influence the industry and possibly do my wee little bit to improve it.
• I don’t think it’s good enough to just share some technical knowledge. Some of you might have found me rude and unbearable, when I frankly told someone that I thought he was not ready for the task and should get his employer to provide a senior mentor. Well, I’ll keep writing these things, because I think it’s the right thing to do. So, occasionally I go off on a rant or become philosophical and write a critique of our industry, such as:
  What is the most important quality for a SAP HCM consultant? New Year's musings on integrity and the man in the mirror
  or Full time culture and the non-value-adding middle man
• Whatever you feel about this, please be aware that I never assume that I’m perfect and meet all those standards, But I think everybody should at least aspire to work to a high standard of quality and integrity.

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The End is coming
Congrats! You now made it to the end of this blog and while hearing your sigh of relief, I’m blogging it forward to Joerg Edinger andAnson John Abraham. I want you guys to answer two questions about yourselves:

1. Why am I a SAP HCM consultant, when there are so many decent professions to choose from?
2. Which country would I love to live in most, if I didn't have to care about a job?

This may be bending the rules a little bit, but I'm adding another dear colleague to the list Corinna Schorr

I guess there needs to be some kind of extra homework for coming late, so, on top of the 2 questions above, I'd like you to answer "What is your favourite local dish and how is it made?"

by the way: would you believe me that this is in England? It really is!

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Hi All Image may be NSFW.
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I am very happy that i got a chance to to know about many people in SCN through this Blog It Forward- Request to Join Table Event

and very happy to write about myself.

Work And SCN

I am working as SAP CRM consultant in Accenture for about 3 years.

From last year i am participating in SCN Forums.

Its really great to be part of SCN forums. Able to learn lots of new things in SAP.

About me:

I completed B.E and joined as fresher in Accenture. Born and brought up in Trichy now living in Chennai.

Love roaming around places

i Want to be a admirable person by many people

Should be a winner always whatever i do Image may be NSFW.
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Hometown.

My home town is Trichy, Tamilnadu.

This place is very famous for Temples like Srirangam Sri Ranganathan Swamy Temple, rockfort etc.

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Hobbies:

I i love to play Shuttle badmintonImage may be NSFW.
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Reading books (History Related books)

Participatting in SCN forum Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

My favourite places:

Alleppey and Thiruparpu falls

I recently visited athirapally falls with my team mates

This trip is the memorable trip till now Image may be NSFW.
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Strengths:

I always like challenges

Whatever it is work or life should have challenges

Questions i want to ask

Which 5 things do you absolutely want to achieve in life?

What do you most enjoy on SCN?

I whoul like to forward ot to

Dharmakasi Thotakura

Imran I

Thakn you for Reading Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Regards,

Deepika.

Here is a list of recently featured content in the About SCN space. This way you won't miss anything!

The most recent features are added to the top of the list regularly.

January 2014

Alessandro Spadoni - SCN Member of the Month January 2014.

Blog it forward - Rishi Das

Blog It Forward- Nitin Jinagal

December 2013

How SCN has transformed my world - #SCNis10

Blog it Forward - Hannes Kuehnemund

Moderators' Meetup and Blog It Forward Celebration - TechEd Bangalore 2013

Blog It Forward - Sivaganesh

Blog It Forward - Ingo Hilgefort

Eight days a week SCN  - #SCNis10

Blog it Forward - Maggie Fox

Behind the Scenes: Jeanne Carboni

Moderator Spotlight - Siddharth Rajora

Eight days a week SCN  - #SCNis10

Lukas Weigelt - SCN Member of the Month December 2013.

November 2013

Important! Rules of Engagement Updated

SCN Platform Update

Blog It Forward - A glimpse of Virtual Party Celebration

Blog It Forward – Vladimir Erakovic

Blog It Forward - Rick Bakker

Blog it Forward - Jeanne Carboni

OpenSearch on SCN II

Blog It Forward - Matthias Wild

Blog It Forward - Paul Bakker

Zahid Yener - SCN Member of the Month November 2013.

Special SCN Blog It Forward Celebration - Join us November 18

October 2013

The Ingredients for Magic

a rough look back

Blog It Forward – Gordon Du

10 Years Ago Here in Las Vegas: Happy Birthday SCN!

The Value of a Community: Results of the 2013 SCN User Survey

2013 Moderator Rules of Engagement

Project Ignite Update

Social Sign-On: An Easy Gateway to SCN - #SCNis10

Can SCN be improved further to help out Novice?

It's Been an Interesting Road...

Rick Bakker - SCN Member of the Month October 2013.

September 2013

Behind the Scenes: Jason Lax

To Infinity and Beyond!

SCN Ten Years On: Will SAP HANA do for data what Blogger did for words?

Blog It Forward – Otto Gold (One year too late)

#SCNis10 : 2009,The Year of Living Social (Media, That Is)

Moderator Spotlight - Jocelyn Dart

100,000 Pay it Forward in 2011! – #SCNis10

Announcing the SCN Topic Leaders 2012-2013

Happy Birthday SCN

Build a Better Blog (Step 4): SEO, Tagging and Posting Rules

Blog it Forward (#BIF) - It's Magic!

Thanks to Tahir Öz  for adding me in the blog it forward (BIF) challenge. I enjoyed his BIF and the great pictures from Turkey. I finally found some time after end of year and fourth quarter activities to write this. For information about this challenge please check out this blog.

I have only recently taken an active part on SCN, but have been using it as a great resource for SAP related information since the SDN early days. I had the opportunity to have a coffee with SCN real founder nominee and serial entrepreneur Etay Gafni at Copa Café in Palo Alto last year and got some great stories from him which convinced me to take a more active part in the community.

About me,

I am a husband and the father of two wonderful children, a son aged 12 and daughter who is 8 years old. They keep me occupied when I am not working or on business trips.

I am the co-founder and CTO of Neptune Software. Currently I live in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The city’s population has nearly reached a million people and is the fastest growing in Europe. The city was founded around year 1000 AD as a trading post for the Vikings. Luckily for DJ Adams and his fellow Bluefin colleagues we have stopped raiding the UK shores – for the time being.

Here is a picture of our Oslo office view of the royal castle and the National Theater. You can also make out the famous Holmenkollen ski jump in the background hills if you study it closely.

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I started my career as a java developer in the late '90s in Stockholm for a Swedish startup – Proceedo. We developed an e-procurement cloud solution and at the time our greatest competitor was (the now SAP acquired) Ariba. Proceedo still lives and is owned by Visma, and unfortunately I believe some of my old J2EE code still runs on their server Image may be NSFW.
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After the burst of the IT bubble in 2001 I moved back to Norway and worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers and IBM before my entrepreneurial drive once more hurled me into starting up LogTech with a few SAP savvy friends. We quickly grew and got acquired by Ciber.I worked there for five years before I finally decided to start Neptune Software in 2011 together with my best friend Ole Andre. The fundamental idea behind the company, improving the user experience for SAP end users, was something we had worked on for quite a while and had prototyped both Flex and Silverlight solutions. Finally, the emergence of HTML5 as the defacto framework for modern UX in the enterprise convinced us to quit our “day jobs” and start the fantastic ride Neptune has been.

A picture of me and my co-founder at our booth taken at TechEd Las Vegas last year by none other than John Moy

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What do you most enjoy on SCN?

As stated above, for years I only used SCN/SDN as a source for information when working as a developer in SAP projects. After several SAP Inside Tracks and TechEd’s last year meeting the people of SCN in real life I have realized that the community is much, much more. Coming from a country where the SAP world is small and where everyone knows everyone it was fascinating to experience the same community feeling on a global scale.

There are a few fantastic things I would like to mention about this community that took place in 2013.

Bill McDermott has started blogging, twittering and communicating directly with the foot soldiers of the SAP world! This shows the strength of SCN as well as great leadership in my opinion. I hope he will take the BIF challenge from John Appleby (just adding some extra pressure Image may be NSFW.
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Another amazing thing was the open sourcing of UI5. I believe that the community effort played a key role in that decision and I will mention a few people that deserves it (there are many more, but these spring to mind)  Roel van den Berge for his video at SITNL, Jan Penninkhof and John Patterson for their important “open source SAPUI5” blogs and Simon Kemp for the t-shirt stunt.

Lastly I want to give credit to Andreas Kunz as he has really shown that you can get great and honest feedback from the insiders of SAP to the community.

Speaking at SITNL

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What you are you doing at the moment?

I have spent the last week in Singapore which turned out to be a very interesting place. I was lucky to get the CEO of JCS who is a native Singaporean to show me around places I would never have stumbled upon myself so that was a great privilege. It was my first trip to this fantastic city where green lungs and historical buildings co-exists in harmony with ultra-modern skyscrapers. I also attended the Inside Track there and held a presentation. The event was hosted by energetic SAP Mentor Jansi Rani Murugesan<- thank you for a great event!

Picture of this fabulous city

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I also had the opportunity to do some business deals. Just hope the people in the back are not laughing at what I just signed!

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Blog it Forward

Then it is my turn to throw down the glove I guess..

I would like to blog it forward to the following people:

Ole-André Haugen (He needs to get started using this community actively as well Image may be NSFW.
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Andreas Kunz (Our UI5 guru of this community)

Patrizia Rossi (New member of the fantastic TechEdge team)

As for questions, I only got one: What is the coolest thing you plan in 2014? The rest you can pick from the very first SCN BIF here:

Blog It Forward - Moshe Naveh

Blog it Forward – Craig Snyder

I was blogged forward by  Nitin Jinagal in his blog Blog It Forward- Nitin Jinagal

This blog system is part of Blog It Forward Community Challenge.

I’m Craig Snyder and I am from West Chester, Pennsylvania, (PA).  A small university town in the western suburbs of Philadelphia in beautiful Chester County.  Chester county is still very much an agricultural county.  It does have Amish and Mennonite communities and horse drawn buggies.  Plows pulled by beautiful, huge, draft horses are not unusual in certain areas. 

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Chester County has many horse farms and is home to many horse activities including thoroughbred horse racing stables, including the stables of the famed race horse Barbaro. (http://www.thehorse.com/articles/18164/barbaro-the-horse-who-captured-americas-heart-excerpt )  The University of Pennsylvania has their world recognized large animal veterinarian center, the New Bolton Center, located here where Barbaro was treated for many months in an attempt to save his life.  Fox hunting and Steeplechase racing are also commonly found in the county. 
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Chester County also claims to be the mushroom capital of the world, producing over 845 million pounds a year in the tiny Kennett Square area and accounts for over 60% of all US production.  California is second at about 9%.  The US is the largest consumer of mushrooms in the world, consuming 30% of the worlds mushrooms, (Germany is next at 17%).  Yes, those of us that are use to these local, fresh mushrooms, tend to become mushroom snobs. Kennett Square even hosts a yearly mushroom festival.  Images : Mushroom Festival

If you ever move to Chester County, pay careful attention to the way the prevailing winds blow. There are many “earthy” smells in the County!

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I love the area I’m in.  We are close to many great attractions.  To start with I’m only about 15 minutes from that great attraction known as SAP North American headquarters in Newton Square.

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Aside from that,  its only 90 minutes to Ocean City at the Jersey shore where both our families have vacationed in the summer for over 70 years.  A two hour drive can get me to several ski slopes for winter time skiing and snow boarding.  We are about 45 minutes from downtown Philadelphia and get to take full advantage of the professional sports and cultural amenities of the 5th largest city in the US.

We experience true four seasons in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area.  It can go over 100 F, (37 C) in the summer and down to 0 F, (-18 C), in the winter.  Each season pretty much runs 3 months.  My favorite season is the fall with the cooler weather and beautiful fall foliage.

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I live with my wife, Connie. We have two sons, Ryan (34),  and Tyler (25).  I also have one granddaughter, 6 month old, Harper.  Our oldest lives with his family.  My youngest is still at home but finishes up his University degree and hits the job market this spring!  YEAH!!!! Finally!!

My wife and I have a shared interest in biking, (pedal), and usually take at least one bike touring trip every year.  Our most ambitious ride was RAGBARI, a 6 day , 450 mile, (725km), bike ride across Iowa two years ago. (RAGBRAI | The Register&amp;#039;s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa)  This year we hope to do an Albany, NY to Rochester, NY ride.

We also have a shared interest in our pets. We are almost finished building our second Koi pond.  Some of our Koi we have had for over 20 years and are more than 24" (61cm) in length.  I have just the decking to complete this year.  We have designed and done 90% of the construction ourselves.  Want to see our koi pond building throughout the two year process?  You can see it here:  Our new pond - Started Fall 2011 - Complete - ? - Pond Showcase - Garden Pond Forums

Our other pets are two dogs.  A 9 year old boxer and a 6 year old German Shorthaired Pointer/Pit mix.  My wife has trained the boxer, Sadie, in agility competition and as a therapy dog. Sadie can actually read flash cards and probably actually is smarter than your honor student.

One interest my wife does not share with me, (and truth be told kind of hates),  is my interest in the fire service.  I have served in the volunteer fire service for over 35 years since I was 18.  I no longer run into burning buildings but I still pull a 10-12 hr shift every week, usually as a driver with a busy department in Newark, DE.  On SCN many of you have seen my profile picture driving the back of the ladder truck.  That is an older picture, and we now have a newer ladder truck which is pictured below.  I do still drive and by far this is my favorite to drive, especially the back end!  It was a childhood dream as a little boy that I was able to be fortunate enough to make happen.  Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

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Clik here to view.I also love to backpack and try to get out on something different every year.  Last year I hiked to Beaver Falls on Havasu Creek at the bottom of the Grand Canyon with my son and some friends.  This year we have a hike planned for the Badlands in beautiful South Dakota.  Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. I combined my interest in the fire service with my love for dogs and my love for the outdoors about six years ago and got involved with a volunteer search and rescue team.  I trained our German Short-haired Pointer mixed breed dog, Meadow, as a wilderness search dog. She is trained to search for missing people lost in the woods and we are certified by the National Association For Search And Rescue.  We hope to certify as a disaster dog as well this upcoming year.

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Clik here to view.You can visit our new search and rescue team’s web page here.  www.delvalsar.org  Pay particular attention to the donations page!!!  If you’ve ever felt good about any advice I ever gave you here at SCN, feel free to visit this page.  If I’ve steered you wrong along the way.. sorry.. don’t trust everything a stranger tells you on the internet!!

Professionally, like many SAP folks my age I never intended to get into SAP.  I studied Animal Science at the University of Delaware in their pre-veterinarian program. For several reasons, vet school wasn’t in the cards for me and I wound up working in chemical laboratories for a couple of different companies.  Computers really weren’t even in the lab yet.  I eventually moved to a pharmaceutical firm where I did animal research and testing.  I worked mostly on animal operant conditioning.  Think of rats pressing levers and running mazes kind of stuff.  We used this testing for evaluating new drug compounds for Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, and neuron growth and recovery following strokes and other neurological injuries..

That eventually led into computers, as they started to find their way into laboratories in the 80’s.  That led to night school for computer programming,  which eventually led to an IT job running LIMS, chromatography systems, VAX computers and miscellaneous lab systems.  That eventually led to a systems analyst job at a chemical firm.  Then one day they told me I was on this SAP project thingy and off I went kicking and screaming.  Welcome to 3.1c. SAP QM and Batch Management!

Almost 20 years later,  and 15 years as an independent, after numerous projects with numerous chemical and pharma firms,  here I am blogging on SCN…. Go figure.  None of it was planned or thought out.  I was just very fortunate to have been in the right places at the right time. And to have a wife that supported me doing new things and going to new places with no promises or guarantees that things would work out.  You kind of have to be that way I guess to marry a firefighter to start with which I always was and always will be.  I'm still hoping that someday SCN will let me post again under Firefighter!!!

So I hope I haven’t bored you to tears.  That’s me in a nutshell.  I’m very thankful for having the opportunity to have made a career out of this.  I’ve found a job I usually look forward to getting up for each morning and that’s really important.  It’s also allowed me to pursue other things that I love in a way that allows me to give back in a small way to my community.  Hopefully at some point, I’ve lessened the misery or suffering of someone else. 

I kind of think of the SCN community in a similar way.  It's not life threatening stuff here, (contrary to what some believe!), but hopefully sharing my small slice of knowledge here helps make it easier for fellow consultants trying to navigate the challenges of a project.

Nitin posted these three questions in his blog it forward:

1. If given an opportunity to travel with possibilities to go by your wish, how far would you travel across the universe ?

            In the words of the infamous Buzz LightYear “To Infinity and Beyond!!!”.  I mean if your going to go… you may as well go.

2. A celebrity name, whom you have always dream to date  and where??

Hmmm… no one really.  I’m quite happy with my wife and really wouldn’t dream about anyone else.  Especially at my age now cause it probably would involve a beautiful, young, athletic, outdoors type of female celebrity that could kick my butt on the trail, (a Hope Solo type).  It would of course involve a backpacking trip to some remote area.  Then  I’d just be classified as a dirty old man which is not a tag I’m interested in.  So for now.. no one.

3. If you ever get to time travel for a week, which phase of your life you would want to re live without changing it ???

It would probably be the week my wife and I vacationed together for the first time , shortly after we met.  We went with some friends on a ski trip and we shared a large townhouse on the side of a ski slope.  It involved lots of skiing, alcohol, food, more alcohol,  more skiing, more food, more alcohol, roaring fireplaces, and a lot of things unmentionable on a public forum. Image may be NSFW.
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Questions from BIF list:

1. If you were given by your work a full day every week to do whatever you feel like, what would it be? Easy... train SAR dogs all day.
2. What do you enjoy most in your work and why? Visiting plant sites, getting to learn how things are "made" and the problems and issues involved.  Meeting plant personnel and learning about their daily lives, both professionally and personally
3. What do you think are the key elements for a successful project?Empowered and respected company personnel as process leads.  Folks that know where the skeletons are buried and how to drive decisions and process change.  People that the upper management champions have fully empowered and then get out of the way and let them re-engineer what needs to be re-engineered.

OK. many of the folks I'd like to hear about have already been asked, (and not done it!), so I'm simply blogging it forward to those that requested it in the table

Blog It Forward- Request to Join Table

I'm passing on Nitin's question above and ask you to select three from the BIF list.

sachin chavan

Shiva Maryala

GuruCharan Gompa

sivakiran uppala

In order to stay updated with this chain, Please follow Blog It Forward (BIF) Chain:

Hello all, Welcome to my Blog...

After I have gone throughblogs by  Blog It Forward - Jitendra Kansal, Nisha Sharma &Ravi Sankar Vennacomments about it I inspired to make my blog for SCN Members.

Note : Link for those who wants to be part of Blog It Forward challenge :

Blog It Forward Community Challenge

My SCN experience :

I am hardcore SCN Fan. Who so ever join new in my team, I make them aware of SCN . I have learnt a lot form SCN. I joined SCN , like 1 year ago and that time i just made a account but from last 2 months i started using it a lot. Now a days its like i can't live without it. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. 

Personal Introduction:
I am Siva kumar D, Currently staying in Hyderabad, The Hub of IT. Born in Andhra Pradesh.

Graduated from ANU Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and currently working in DesIdea Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad.

My eternal love towards current affairs (Politics), reading, Cricket, exploring different traditional cultures particularly in Textile industry – Handloom Sarees & Dress Materials Weavers and their Development (India’s rich cultural heritage) keeps me busy all the time.

I completed all my education in my home town Chirala. My Degree and PG has been completed from VRS & YRN College, Chirala.

Web link:http://www.vrsyrn.co.in/

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About My professional Life:

Currently working in DesIdea Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad.

SAP has a great opportunities &  is a fast growing technology to learn and achieve Career Objectives.

I am working in SAP – ABAP,SAP-CRM-technical and I have knowledge on SAP-SD.

About my Home state:

I come from Andhra Pradesh, which is a part of Southern India.

Presently I am staying in Hyderabad (Hi-Tech City or Hub of IT) and a Very famous for Hyderabad Biryani  and more than 400 years of Ancient History.

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I am sharing few pictures from my place and Prakasam District:

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I am very much follower of our First CM of Andhra Pradesh Tanguturi Prakasam.

After my retirement I would like to give service to the society in a good manner and to the possible extent.

Interests:

I like watching cricket , Singing and Dance shows ,Travelling, Reading, watching Super Hit Movies only.

Sharing few pics from my Dubai trip: myself in Dubai Mall.

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1.The dream job when I was kid : As a Business Man Roaming around India.

2. If given a chance to show your creativity, in which specific field would you make an attempt?

Our Traditional Handlooms Industry.

3.What is your worst coding program ? The program you would like never to modify ... ?

Not yet Experienced till now.

4.What is the craziest thing you would have done in your life?

Entering into SAP World ;).

5. What 2 things do you like the least about working in IT?

On Bench period and waiting for a new project.

6.What 2 things do you like the most about working in IT?

Working Environment and Growing with the technology changes and learning continuously.

For any doubts regarding BIF, kindly visit Blog It Forward Community Challenge

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Blog Forward:

I would like to blog forward to

Chundru Ravindra

santhosh kumar

Rashmith Tula

Vinay Kumar Dalapathirao

A V Krishna

My Questions:

1) Name the person who affected you most in your career/ way of thinking and why?

2) What do you enjoy most in your work and why?

3) What is your personal life dream?

Thanks a lot for reading my blog.I would appreciate your valuable comments and feed-backs.

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Clik here to view.It is my pleasure to go ‘Behind the Scenes’ with our very own Director of Community Advocacy SCN, Marilyn Pratt! It is especially fitting in honor of Community Manager Appreciation Day #CMAD, this Monday, January 27 as Marilyn is one the SCN’s most beloved community managers!

Marilyn is a wonderful speaker and educator. As a true mentor, she excels in her listening skills. She ‘hears’ the community daily and tirelessly fights for their needs behind the scenes. I have had the pleasure of personally working with and learning from Marilyn since I joined the team in 2006. I admire her passion, empathy and sense of justice and am proud to call her a friend. Read on to learn more about Marilyn. 

Please share some personal details: I’m officially a senior citizen this year with a beautiful family that includes a geographically dispersed group of 5 children (3 of them married), 2 granddaughters and another grandchild “on the way”.

We love to surprise one another with visits.  All my kids gathered for my 60th birthday, for example.

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Photo credit to Lyn Ofrane.

Gali: Marilyn’s home base today is New York and her ‘Mentor basement’ is well known to many. The baby picture above is Marilyn on her last day as a native NY’er in 1955 and below is her first day back in NYC with her parents in 1998.

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You have a unique title, could you tell us a bit about it? Thanks to my manager, Jeanne Carboni,  I have a title for what I do.  She helped me chose it and promoted me as the Director of Community Advocacy SCN working with the “Collaboration Team”.

What brings you the most satisfaction from your role? I love the name Collaboration Team because that is exactly what we do.  We work together in the truest sense of the word. I’ve often quipped that Jeanne manages some of the feistiest bunch of people in SCN.  We are all pretty strong “personalities” and consensus building and our collaborative work is one entailing a great deal of dialogue, sometimes dissension, but always with a great deal of listening and respect. I’ve worked for SAP for 15 years in various teams and roles and I can honestly say, I’ve never worked with a more caring, committed and professional group of people than I do now.

Can you share about an interesting project you've worked on? One of the more interesting projects I’ve worked on entailed creating context for coding jams and getting a deeper understanding of how a business case is articulated.  As a former developer, I often looked at coding from a pure “specs” perspective which was often a rather narrow scope.  Learning about process analysis and translating business needs to implementable code after getting deep guidance from domain experts really changed my views on the value of the Business Process Expert.  Helping create the Business Process Expert community was probably the most challenging work I’ve done for SAP.

What is your favorite SCN space and why? Hands down, I’d say that the Design Thinking With SAP Space is my favorite topic area.  I know there is a bit of contention around the term but I love the definition of the space: 

“Design Thinking is a mindset backed by a suite of tools that gives us a powerful new way to solve problems and unlock potential. It complements our existing approaches by focusing on understanding the human side of things — what our technology is and what that technology means to you and to your customers.”

While I love technology, coding, coders and all things geeky, it is the human side of what we do that most intrigues me.

What would the community be surprised to learn about you? I once helped inoculate thousands of chickens against Newcastle Disease while volunteering on a farm.  I was tasked with catching those 3 to 5 at a time, and holding them upside down by their feet, which I was told hypnotized them.  I now have a bad feeling it might have actually made them unconscious…. For days afterwards whenever I saw any kind of bird, pigeon or sparrow, in my vicinity, I felt the instinct to run after it.  It wasn’t my favorite work experience.  I’m sure it wasn’t the favorite experience of the chickens, either.

Please help us grow from your personal experience;  share one tip/resource/guide/experience that you recommend after finding it helpful from personal experience One of my work colleagues at SAP introduced me to the idea that all things be they pleasant or unpleasant are impermanent. Another helped me understand that “perfect” is the enemy of good.  These ways of thinking have given me the confidence and freedom to “ideate” without being so married to my ideas that I’m unable to modify them or even realize them, yet has enabled me to create events and activities that evolve and build on input from others.  They may not be perfect events, but they are good ones.

The next four questions are taken from the Actor Studio interview questions:

What is your favorite word:  Gratitude (this year especially) Empathy, Inclusion, and Advocacy are some other close favorites

Least favorite word: Impossible!

What sound do you love:  Unrestrained joyous laughter (I know, many of my colleagues agree)

What profession other than yours would you love to attempt: Writing fiction

Knowing the topic of empathy is near and dear to your heart, could you answer your own BIF question: Describe an instance when empathy in a project, development, collaboration, work experience, or community interaction turned a situation around (or should have).

That’s an easy one. I once taught a class in SAP Canada on graphic screen development (ABAP Screen Painter).  One of my students was a developer who was blind from birth.  I struggled during the week’s course to translate everything I was “showing” the class by demonstrating the tool,  to an audible series of keystroke definitions so I verbalized in a kind of simultaneous translation all my actions and visual activities to audio ones.  It was challenging and I was a bit “put out”.  The final hour of the week long class we were to share an exercise and explain the coding.  Suddenly there was a blackout in the building and while all the students sat in front of their darkened screens in a totally pitch black room, the blind student led everyone through his coding, verbally.  He was given resounding applause at the end of his performance, done from memory and very well executed.

It’s well-known that you love traveling.  Do you have a favorite travel location?Chendamangalam (Kerla, India) – place of incredible inclusion

http://grannimari.blogspot.com/2008/01/chendamangalam-my-kind-of-shangri-la.html

How about one from the to go list:Mastering SAP Technology, Australia Image may be NSFW.
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In SAP TechEd Madrid 2011 there was a famousflashmob(video credit to Dennis Howlett)in your honor, which was an outpouring of love and admiration. If you could, who would you organize a flash mob for?That’s a terribly difficult question because I admire many, many people in our community and would like to find additional creative ways to acknowledge them, but I’d love to give special honor to Tammy Powlas. From an SAP SCN perspective I’ve rarely seen anyone as active and dedicated as she is online and off. Every Inside Track, every blog, conversation, dilemma, tweet seems to never escape her sharp eyes.  But I think she would kill us if we did a flash mob for her!  And embarrassing someone would hardly be gracious.

In past SAP TechEds your topics have covered; diversity, inclusion, empathy and most recently failure. Would you be willing to share an example in which you learned and grew from your failure?

My famous example is the non-inclusive, inclusion event (first one) where the panel didn’t include enough perspectives.  This was remedied by giving more autonomy to the people who explained to me what didn’t work and including them in iteration greatly improved the format and outcomes of additional events. (Shout out to Matthias Steiner, Thorsten Franz, Tobias Trapp, Jon Reedand especially Heike van geel.

Could you give the community a hint on what the 2014 topic will be? Thinking “R” words: Retrospectives, Reflections, Resilience vs. Robustness

Do you have any thoughts on how our community can be more inclusive, empathetic and open to failure? I’d like to see us return to a state of really welcoming newcomers. Embracing the idea that without newbie presence (blunders and all) the community will wither and die or implode.   I think (self -included) that we have forgotten how to be truly gracious to first-time participants and we all might reflect on how it feels to walk into a room of strangers and be viewed with suspicion and intolerance.   I feel a blog coming…..

Marilyn truly cares, listens and works tirelessly for the good of the community. Our colleague below said it best when he wrote, “… Marilyn is the heart of SCN”. Please read further for this and other SCN Team quotes:

• “Marilyn Pratt is one of the most influential people in the SAP Community Network. I cannot count the number of times people have told me that she is the reason they engage with the community. She works quietly behind the scenes, encouraging individuals to share their knowledge, talent and themselves through SCN and SAP events. Marilyn drives goodness through projects like the World Food Program Points for Food, motivating thousands to give of their time to contribute to this great cause. I feel very fortunate to have met and gotten to know Marilyn.”
• "Marilyn has been a role model for so many people in so many ways. I am one of those people, and I continue to learn from Marilyn every day. She exemplifies community spirit in all aspects of her life, not just online on SCN. Marilyn leads with empathy and always seeks to find solutions to challenges that meet the needs of all participants. I can't remember who first coined the hashtag #WWMPD (What Would Marilyn Pratt Do), but I find myself using it at appropriate moments. I'm proud to work beside Marilyn and hope to get to do so for a long time coming!"
• “Always there to offer a tender solution to a tough challenge, which was expressed by the meme "What would Marilyn Pratt do?"
• “When I joined SCN, it seemed that every other person said, “If you really want to know what’s going on, you need to talk with Marilyn Pratt”. That first conversation I had with her, and the many that followed, provide me with an advanced degree in an esoteric, but totally applicable, course of study in human relations, SAP, developers, sales, sustainability, social media, kids, adults, CRM, influence, and God knows how many other topics that have been invaluable to me. To say that Marilyn is a mentor (or, Mentor) is to miss the point of what she brings to our team, and probably every team with which she is involved. She cares about things that many only give lip service to: passion, listening skills, and a desire to want to make things work better. But beyond caring, she commits herself and does the work required to make an impact. All of that adds up to the great intangible known as heart. Marilyn Pratt IS, without question, the heart of SCN.”

Join Marilyn’s twitter following Image may be NSFW.
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In addition, both Marilyn and I invite the community to honor Community Managers on January 27, #CMAD.

See additional ‘Behind the Scenes’ with SCN Team members.

'Behind the Scenes' (BtS) is a series that gets up close to our special SCN team members, showcasing their professional SCN roles as well as some of their personal interests.

Hello Everyone,

A special thanks to Alexandre Papagiannidis Rivet for blogging this my way and giving me the opportunity to introduce myself to SCN.  You can have a look at the entire Blog It Forward (BIF) Chain to see just how pervasive this has been!

By way of introduction

I grew up on the west coast of Florida, in the Tampa Bay area.  Life at SAP began in Lake Mary, Florida in 2003, at a company called Crystal Decisions.  10 years and 2 acquisitions later I am now living in Denver, Colorado with my wife, 2 children, and one very large dog named Bizzy!

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We enjoy hiking in the mountains, skiing, and generally taking advantage of Denver's purported 300 days of yearly sunshine.  Sometimes I think my daughter Morgan likes the fresh, mountain air a little too much:

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My role at SAP

I currently work in the Products & Innovations (P&I) group as a Technical Specialist and my primary area of expertise is around Business Intelligence and the greater Analytics space.  I've worked with the BI Platform since it was known as Seagate Info so the sizing, performance, and architecture of that product remains near and dear to my heart.  In 2013 I had the opportunity to record an openSAP course called BI 4 Platform Innovation and Implementation with a teammate, and it was a fantastic experience sitting in front of the camera and sharing some of the knowledge we have accumulated over the years.

My team now does co-innovation projects with customers who are making SAP HANA an integral component of their enterprise, and we have a chance to influence their use of the HANA platform and all the benefits that come with it.  I've been learning SAP River since it was released in December and am excited to put some of these new resources into practice in 2014!

Something interesting about me

Travel to new and exciting locations is what keeps me passionate on an every day basis.  Last year I managed to visit 6 different countries, and attend an equal number of SAP conferences to meet customers and partners.  My wife, Jessica, and I also like to visit new places together.  A few years ago, before we had children, we visited Cairo, Luxor, and Sharm el-Sheikh ... it was a humbling experience visiting relics, such as the pyramids, that have been around for thousands of years.  Here we are on a river boat floating down the Nile:

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Now onto the BIF questions:

What superpower would you like to have, and why?

Believe it or not, I don't hold with the common perception that Aquaman is an overrated superhero.  If I could have a superpower it would be to breathe underwater and communicate with marine life.  Our oceans are vast and cover around 70% of the world ... to explore them as a native denizen would be truly amazing!

If you were a flavor of ice cream, what would you be?

I would be Cinammon-Cayenne Ice cream because I firmly believe that we can all use a little spice in our lives.

If you were a chef at my restaurant, what would you cook?

This is a tough one as I love to cook but don't have a firm set of "go-to" recipes.  I'd probably make coffee-rubbed rib eye steaks and roast cauliflower because they are delightful and the smoky coffee flavor compliments the tender steak wonderfully well.

I would like to blog it forward to my openSAP teammate Henry Banks, and my colleague Foroohar Rafiei.

Hello all, Welcome to my Blog...

This is my first Blog, After I have gone throughblogs by  Blog It Forward -  Abesh Bhattacharjee ,  Kumud Singh&Vinod Kumarcomments about it I inspired to make my blog for SCN Members.

Note : Link for those who wants to be part of Blog It Forward challenge : Blog It Forward Community Challenge

My Experience with SCN:

I Love SCN. I have learnt a lot form SCN like a school kid. I joined SCN 3 year ago and that time I just created an account but now it is a guide for my professional career I can't live without it. Image may be NSFW.
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Personal Introduction:

My name is Ravindra, Currently staying in Hyderabad with my family. Born in Andhra Pradesh, India.

I completed my graduation from Adam’s Engineering College, Paloncha, Khammam, affiliated to JNTU Hyderabad.

Web link:http://www.adamsenggcollege.ac.in/

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About My professional Life:

Currently working as SAP – ABAP,SAP-CRM-technical Consultant in DesIdea Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad.

SAP has a great opportunities &  is a fast growing technology to learn and achieve Career Objectives.

My Questions:

1) Name the person who affected you most in your career/ way of thinking and why?

         Chiranjeevi Kumar, I learned a lot from him, mainly the way of exploring the new things.

2) What do you enjoy most in your work and why?

     Working on new tasks, I never had gone through.  It will improve my skills and potentiality.

3) The dream job when I was kid?

     I like agriculture.

Thanks a lot for reading my blog. I would appreciate your valuable comments and feed-backs.

Ravindra.

"Blog It Forward- Santhosh kumar"

Welcome to my Blog...

After I have gone throughblogs by  Blog It Forward - Jitendra Kansal, Nisha Sharma &Ravi Sankar Vennacomments about it I inspired to make my blog for SCN Members.

Note : Link for those who wants to be part of Blog It Forward challenge :

Blog It Forward Community Challenge

My SCN experience :

I am hardcore SCN Fan. Who so ever join new in my team, I make them aware of SCN . I have learnt a lot form SCN. I joined SCN , like 1 year ago and that time i just made a account but from last 2 months i started using it a lot. Now a days its like i can't live without it. Image may be NSFW.
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Personal Introduction:

I am Santhosh Kumar, Currently staying in Hyderabad, The Hub of IT. Born in Andhra Pradesh.

Graduated from JNTU, Andhra Pradesh and currently working in DesIdea Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad.

About My professional Life:

Currently working in DesIdea Software Technologies Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad.

SAP has a great opportunities &  is a fast growing technology to learn and achieve Career Objectives.

I am working in SAP – ABAP,SAP-CRM-technical and I have knowledge on SAP-ABAP HR.

About my Home state:

I come from Andhra Pradesh, which is a part of Southern India.

Presently I am staying in Hyderabad (Hi-Tech City or Hub of IT) and a Very famous for Hyderabad Biryani and more than 400 years of Ancient History.

I am sharing few pictures from my place Hyderabad and Medak District:

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

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Clik here to view.

Interests:

I like watching cricket , Singing and Dance shows ,Travelling, Reading, watching Super Hit Movies only.

Sharing few pics from my Malaysia trip:

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Clik here to view.

Thanks a lot for reading my blog. I would appreciate your valuable comments and feed-backs.

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Clik here to view.Every day I am amazed by how strong and vibrant SAP Community Network is, with its wealth of content, knowledgeable members and valuable interactions. We have many people to thank for nurturing this community and making it the best place to find knowledge about SAP. These are mainly our Global Moderators who are like conductors of a large orchestra, by establishing rules of engagements and listening carefully to the voices of members. There are also our Space Moderators who help answer questions and serve as role models for other members, and our Space Editors who bring you interesting and high quality information.

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Clik here to view.Community Manager Appreciation Day(#CMAD) is a day dedicated to showing our gratitude for those who work tirelessly to support and grow online communities, like SCN. This year, CMAD is on Monday, January 27^th. Of course, we don’t have to wait for this annual celebration to express our appreciation to community managers – this should happen every day!

To more than 1,300 of SCN’s Global Moderators, Space Moderators and Space Editors listed below, I say “Thank you for your passion and spirit! SCN continues to be the hub for SAP professionals because of your efforts.” I hope you’ll join me in this celebration by adding a comment of appreciation below, and using the @mention to recognize those who have supported you. Here’s a screenshot of how to use the @mention.

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