What's better than being an MVP?.. An MVP Nominator!
I received a really nice surprise this morning in my pigeon hole, a certificate of recognition for nominating MVP’s!
Now, I was an MVP (as I always tell people, it was only for a couple of days, but they were special) so I know how important the MVP award is for those who consistently contribute to the community; blogging and presenting. But it’s not all about “getting” an MVP award, it’s about working continually to retain it.
But like most things in this world, there is the good, the bad, and the ugly…and the MVP programme is no exception. See, before I joined Microsoft, I worked for a range of consulting firms, doing a range of things from .NET, SharePoint and BizTalk, and I had never had much involvement with the Microsoft community. I attended a few user group meetings, but didn’t get the value I was after (either because the level of presentations were too low or the group was “sponsored” by a company that used the user group as a sales platform”), and also became disenchanted by the discussion forums and mailing lists as many had started to become very busy with chatter and most of the quality content had become lost.
So it wasn’t until I joined Microsoft, and started to work very closely with the community, that I discovered the MVP programme. The goal of the MVP programme is to identify those individuals within the community that provide a major contribution to others through blogging, presenting, forums, etc. By recognising these individuals, the hope is that they will provide points of reference for others within key product or specialisation areas (such as BizTalk, SharePoint or areas of interest such as Architecture), and also act as field personnel for the product teams, gathering feedback from the user community and disseminating new information from Redmond to the wider community.
The problem is, like most established “recognition” programmes, it’s not always the most valuable that get recognised, but sometimes the most loquacious. There is an awesome quote by one of my favourite Stoic philosophers, Seneca, in the book, Letters from a Stoic that reads, ““What is required is not a lot words, but effectual ones.”
Now, before peoples blood pressure ascends to the penthouse suite, I’m discussing a concern, not the rule. There are more MVP’s than not that add immense value to not only the community, but Microsoft as a whole. But there are those who for reasons of changing situation, motivation or interest, are not fully bearing their mantle as a Most Valuable Professional. Then there are those that make the loudest blip on the radar, but don’t necessarily add value, that score a guernsey. And also those who just get their MVP through perpetuation, or high-profile. So what’s my solution?
My solution is to continually “churn” the MVP family. My take on the MVP program is about looking for new talent, and making those current MVP’s work harder than the newbies. Like I always say to my MVP contacts; getting an MVP award should be hard, keeping it should be near impossible. Why the tough love? Because that’s how you increase value in a community. You take those who truly excel, magnify them for a short period of time, connect them with the product teams and internal key people within Microsoft, give them a platform to influence and grow, then return them to the flock. See, it’s the experience you gain and the contacts you form as an MVP that is the good oil, once you have that though, you don’t need to be an MVP for consecutive years. What’s better is that you look for others who would benefit from that new experience and those new contacts, and that way, over a period of time, you connect and grow lots of influencers, not just a hand full. And the overall quality and experience of the community increases exponentially.
So to all the new MVP’s I nominated who got in, you rock! But my hope for this time next year, is that my MVP’s tell me who I should nominate in their place for the following year. That way, more and more people get to say those magic words…“Oh yeah, I used to be an MVP, it’s a tough racket” *sip*.
Comments
Anonymous
January 19, 2006
What do I think
http://www.clarkescott.com/PermaLink,guid,a27c3801-eebe-4598-a727-3e7d2e9716be.aspxAnonymous
January 19, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
January 19, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
January 19, 2006
I agree, the MVP award doesn't matter too much. It's just 3 extra letters that recognise that you've done a lot towards the community in general (well the community you were awarded as an MVP for anyway).
MVP or no MVP, you're still essentially the same person right? It's not like you get super-human superman type powers when you get awarded right? :P
All an MVP should really signify is that the individual is passionate about what they do, and helps others who need the help. (Well, that's over simplifying it. But that's what it is in essence right?).
I don't think it's something you just "aim for". It's more something that comes along as a side effect of the individuals' passion in helping others with problems (in certain products etc). (Which is as you mentioned Dave, "enjoying the spoils if they come". But don't worry too much if they don't come. At least you get that warm fuzzy feeling that you've helped someone, and perhaps made their day so they didn't have to grow some white hair, and pull out some of the non-white hair out of frustration).Anonymous
January 19, 2006
LOL, you're passionate Clarke, and that's why I think you're valuable, baaaart...
>I think you are missing something here Dave.
Because I have never seen it as a competition.
Awesome! But you're not the only MVP Clarke. From antiquity to infinity, there have, are and will be many MVPs.
And as I said, this is not the rule, but an exception. To take the PoV that there can only be one form of MVP identification, nomination and award, is pretty narrow.
Like the rainbow Clarke, most things have a spectrum of colors (isn't that beautiful, and better than another quote ;))Anonymous
January 19, 2006
Will,
What you say is true.
But wouldn't you prefer to have someone like Mitch, Greg Low as an MVP than someone like me!
I would!
If Mitch or Greg or Bill were not MVP's. I would be embrassed to be one! Simple as that...I would not accept the award but, because people like the above are MVP's it makes me work even harder.
I hope I'm not coming off badly here :)
I'm not trying to sound elitist here. I'm all for replacing MVP's but, not after a mantitory period that's all.Anonymous
January 20, 2006
Gutsy post Dave. I like where you are coming from here.
I think that the MVP program would run the risk of becoming an MVS (Most Valuable Shill) award if it is ever seen as a competition. People must remember (and this goes doubly for the nominators!) that MVP is a recognition of prior effort and not simply a recognition of being a good bloke or a shill.
There seems to be way too much emphasis on the MVP program lately - an unhealthy emphasis - as everyone that I talk to seems as though they are competing to get the award. I think that this leads to taking your eye off of the real goal which is to - work your heart out in a good cause and lie exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
I dunno, maybe it's blogging which has distorted the lines of the MVP program a bit. I mean, give a bloke a soapbox and...Anonymous
January 21, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
February 07, 2006
Mitch alerted me to this to this post by David Lemphers.  Dave doesn't name names of the MVPs who...Anonymous
February 07, 2006
David Lemphers has posted some thoughts on the MVP program. Since Clarke Scott has seen fit to replace...Anonymous
February 08, 2006
Dave Lemphers did start a bit of a discussion in the local MVP community recently with this post and...Anonymous
February 08, 2006
It seems every year, with every award cycle, the debate over what makes a MVP and the MVP program itself...Anonymous
March 16, 2006
David is sharing his thoughts
on User
Communities. He is the person in my team charted with taking...Anonymous
September 14, 2006
I had an interesting email yesterday from someone regarding the MVP program. Now, I've had my views and...Anonymous
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