The Boring Enterprise Nerdletter #26: Advice, Architects, SAP Q3, S/4HANA Roundup, VR Smell-O-Vision
Hi there,
Welcome to issue number 26! Times two, this means we made it through the whole year! On November 10, 2021, the inaugural Nerdletter issue hit the digital stands. What a day it was!
Our original plan clearly worked: bring you 6 stories, biweekly, never dull. So we are officially naming it “best practice”. Cue the confetti! (What, no confetti? Supply chain issues?) Aaaanyways… Enjoy and cheers to 26 more!
-Jelena and Paul
Old Paul Fixes Young Paul
Dear Younger Nerd Paul,
This is Paul from the future. I'm turning on my quantum photonic neural mesh interface to send you/me a reverse-temporal email about things I'm seeing in the enterprise software development world that I think you/me should know.
(The great thing about this temporal email stuff is that there's no need for you/me to reply - I will instantly have the memory of receiving this message and recall what I thought.)
I've worked with a few new and new-ish developers in the last couple years. Once upon a time I hoped to take my hard-won experience and write a bestselling tome - but when I look at the younger folks, they seem to have already figured it out. I think the best remedial course of action is to send you/me the best things they're doing that I failed to do.
(In other words, I know you're not doing these things…I am you.)
Raise your hand if you go longer than half an hour of being totally stuck. It's OK to be stuck for a bit - we've all been there - but if you're grinding your gears and feel like you've exhausted all the ways you know to attack the problem, find your buddy whose job it is to get people unstuck. If you're on a team and you're never stuck - congratulations. Your job is people un-sticker.
Communication is the ur-skill from which all other professional skills derive. Empathy is the ur-skill from which all other personal (and perhaps even moral) skills derive. These two traits are powerful and related, and must be practiced daily to your best conscious effort.
Seek community.
Remember, as soon as I send this I will instantly know if you/me spam-folder it. Read it and take heed, or I'll have to send it again.
-Me (You) PM
Architecting in IT
Recently I shared a short video on Twitter with a comment “why you need an architect on SAP projects”. In all seriousness though, the number of IT projects that resemble that video is staggering. We are in dire need of more architects.
I’m constantly amazed by the complexity and amount of work that goes into the building architecture. Are there lessons to be learned for the IT architects and project managers?
The building architects start with specialized education. SAP architects usually start as developers and Basis admins, then grow organically into an architect role. On one hand, it’s great and allows them to understand how things actually happen. But architecture is a profession on its own and doesn’t equate to a “Basis guy/girl on steroids”.
The buildings are also constructed using very specific standards. Their function and capacity are strictly documented upfront. But this is not the case in IT. Imagine if someone suddenly asked for a rooftop garden, a balcony, and “oh wait, can we bring our own bricks for just this part?” when plans are almost done. Yet this is what happens on almost every IT project.
IT and SAP architects are also expected to have much more “horizontal” expertise in many tech subjects, not just deep “vertical” knowledge of a single solution. If you’re subscribing to this Nerdletter, you’re already on a good track here, but there ought to be more education offerings than one openSAP course.
Perhaps we need to get better in IT with our own "building codes" and expectation management too. After all, enterprise software dwellers deserve the same care as the brick-and-mortar building occupants. JP
SAP Q3: Cloud Rocket
As is usual when earnings reports come out, I am eager and interested and completely clueless. I need hot-take-havers to weigh in, and Bob Evans never disappoints.
Lots of good news for SAP. Cloud revenue grew 38%, even better than last quarter's 34%. So much of cloud, especially in enterprise, seems to be positive and growing these days - you can't swing a sales rep without hitting a customer seeking a cloud solution. Let me again encourage you to read the Evans piece linked above, and pay attention to the itemized perspective list he created. I have a couple thoughts on it.
Re: point 1 - inside the SAP world, you often hear the grumbly love that friends give each other. As someone who works in consulting and providing services for SAP systems, I am often called upon when things need tweaking and tuning - not when things are going swimmingly or don't need any attention at all. So those of us in that community probably have perspectives a bit skewed.
Re: point 3 - I wish I knew the exact numbers on the breakdown of the ERP upgrades. Of ECC installations that go through an upgrade, how many do green/brown/(other color) type upgrades? How many choose to simplify down to the SaaS S/4 versus stay the course in install-and-manage?
Time marches on. SAP is in the cloud - get used to it, old fuddy-duddies. PM
SAP S/4HANA 2022 Release Round-up
SAP S/4HANA 2022 release comes at the perfect time, when automakers and fashion designers are selling 2023 models. So, what’s coming at us in the next upgrade?
To find out, take 13 minutes to read SAP Community blog post that highlights new stuff by module. My personal favorite is the unified package building that looks like a nice departure from clunky handling units.
For developers, here is my round-up of the 2022 release content.
You’ve heard about CDS view entities and now there are more of them! This post offers a great summary and “what’s available where” matrix. Read it and bookmark it.
SAP messaging now is “make code cloud-ready”. This reminds me how in Minnesota (famously cold US state) locals sometimes wear shorts and flip-flops in December and joke that they dress as if they can influence weather. Cloud readiness is something like that. Anyways, this post is all about it and has links to more content on Embedded Steampunk and ABAP Extensibility.
What is new in ABAP RAP? Find the full list here. Notable items: business events (looking forward to exploring more) and FINALLY! RAP can handle files and attachments that SAP calls large objects (LOBs), which is totally not confusing. JP
Is Development Dead? Part N of N
I know, I know, we’ve heard since the 90s that VERY SOON the code will be written by trained monkeys. Now instead of monkeys it’s the low code / no code solutions but the story remains.
Fireship YT video ‘Is coding really dead?’ talks about recent coding-killing trends in an honest and pragmatic way. My personal take on this (and many YT comments agree) is that while coding might be becoming more efficient rather than dead, there is much more to the developer's work than tools or trained monkeys can do. This is especially true in SAP and likely enterprise software in general.
The video is well worth watching in its entirety. But unless someone comes up with an app that can extract requirements from the business users' minds, SAP developers do not need to worry about their job security. JP
Smell-O-Vision But Also VR
Is your Meta Quest Pro not doing it for you? It's probably because your virtual meetings are missing that important-but-often-forgotten factor: smelling what your colleagues just had for lunch!
As virtual reality moves into more corners of our lives, the old days of just seeing and hearing your fake environment will be looked at as ancient. It's time to get those other senses involved - and now no less than Stockholm University agrees with me. They've produced research showing that olfactometers - odor machines - can be successfully hooked into VR worlds, and that furthermore this technology can be printed on 3D printers.
I can't wait to discover that my remote colleague's cat just vomited in their office. I'm pumped to know if my boss needs to do her laundry, from the comfort of my own home. Smell-O-Vision originally debuted with a single film in 1960, but had a fatal flaw: you still had to go to the movie theater to use it. When smell is fully integrated into VR, we can finally make olfactory experiences meet consumers' demanding expectations for smell delivery.
I, for one, cannot wait to invest. PM
Happy Birthday To Us!
What is the best way to celebrate baby's first birthday? With a cup or two of coffee, of course!
We could not have made it this far without you. Thank you for your continuous readership and support!