Thursday, July 21, 2011

Spicing the community up

As the most visible face of the SDL Tridion MVP Selection Panel I get asked plenty of questions about the selection process, the nominations, the qualifications of the MVPs, etc.

Here's an FAQ to try to sort this thing once and for all:

How do I get to be an MVP?
Very simple:
  1. Contribute to the community. This includes - but is not limited to - twitter, facebook, linkedin, personal blogs, the Tridion Forum, SDLTridionWorld
  2. Get nominated by following the instructions on the MVP Program page
Can I nominate myself?
Yes.


What is a Community Builder?
An MVP that works for SDL.

Who are the Community Builders?
This information is not publicized since we want to promote external MVPs - partners, customers, independents. However, we felt that some contributions from our own people were too good to go unpunished so SDL employees receive a Community Builder award instead. Letting the wider world know about "person X" being a Community Builder is left to the person's own discretion.

Why is {person A} an MVP and not {person B}?
This is one of the most common questions I get. Well, likely because {person B} did not follow the steps outlined above on "How do you get to be an MVP?". The MVP program's goal is NOT to identify the best Tridion resources out there. In many cases, the current MVPs would not even qualify to a "Top 20" of the best Tridion resources in the world (in my not-so-humble opinion). They get the award not because of what they know (though that helps) but because of what they do. Every time an MVP answers a question in the Forum, hundreds of people (potentially) learn from it. Every time an MVP blogs something, the whole world can learn from it. Every time {person B} does a very successful implementation and does not tell the world anything about the solutions chosen, we all lose.

Are you saying MVPs are not the best of the best?
Yes, I am saying that being an MVP does not mean you are better than anyone else. It means you share more than others.


Now that this little FAQ is out of the way...
What the **** are our current MVPs doing? It sure has been a long time since I read anything good by any of them (exception made to Walter that keeps on pushing good stuff out).

7 comments:

Bart Omlo said...

And as I fired up the discussion earlier: It's not only technical consultants that can be an MVP. Would be nice if it was a mix of roles (architect, FC, TC, PM etc.)

Bart Omlo, HintTech

Nuno said...

One of our current MVPs is not technical (and does not work for a Partner either).

N

Ingmaru said...

Shhh, then ppl will expect me to compete in all 4 disciplines :(

Nivlong said...

I think each time you try to add a new role you make a Horcrux.

Richard said...

Hey is there a tutorial that explains the oData Web Service for Tridion 2009 (similar to the following http://www.sdltridionworld.com/articles/sdltridion2011/tutorials/deployer-and-odata-3.aspx). Also does the 2011 oData Web Service (http://www.sdltridionworld.com/articles/sdltridion2011/tutorials/deployer-and-odata-3.aspx) work with the 2009 Deployer?

Nuno said...

Hi Richard,

The OData Content Delivery Service is only available for 2011, not 2009. You can indeed configure a 2009 CM to publish to a 2011 CD, in which case all the instructions for setting it up are the same (since the delivery is 2011).

This content delivery instance would need its own database (2011 format), it cannot be shared with 2009 Content Delivery.

N

Nivlong said...

It's almost two years later and I think your rant worked, Nuno! From open source projects like the PowerTools reboot and DD4T, to Tridion StackExchange and previous non-sharers now sharing, the Tridion Community continues to evolve and grow.

Even Ingmaru and RonnieG are on TRex! :-O