The Boring Enterprise Nerdletter #27: SAP TechEd, Waiters, Democratizing Data, Twitter WFH, Devtoberfest
Hi there,
SAP TechEd and Devtoberfest are big deals for us, so about a third of this issue is super deep into the SAP nerd realm. If you're uncomfortable there, DON'T WORRY! We still have other great things to share with you!
In the US, Thanksgiving is coming up soon. Apart from feasting with family and friends, we Boring Enterprise Nerds are thankful for folks who read this newsletter.
We appreciate you!
-Jelena and Paul
SAP TechEd Front Lines: What's In A Name?
What's old is new again. Two things in Juergen Mueller's opening keynote snagged on my brain, and naming things (one of the hard things in computer science) factored in both of them.
SAP Build
Tired: UI prototyping tool.
Wired: low-code EVERYTHING.
SAP Build is a low-code toolset that has three parts: SAP Build Apps for low/no-code apps, SAP Build Process Automation for workflow/RPA-flavored apps, and SAP Build Work Zone for business web pages kinda like SharePoint. Folks in the SAP community will recognize the "Build" name from a design and prototyping tool a few years old - so this is a case of using the same name to mean something else entirely. This will take some messaging work to get unstuck from a few folks' brains.
Paul's Juicy Hot Take(TM): enterprises' choice of low-code toolsets will be a dogfight for years. Do you go with a vendor's own tool that will make working with that vendor's applications great? Do you go with a third-party tool whose sole purpose is low/no-code and can do a passable job on a number of systems? Is there a significant difference these days? Oracle, Workday, SAP, and Dynamics all have their own sets of tools that work best inside their own walls - do any of them work well enough to be a center of gravity for the whole enterprise's low-code needs?
ABAP Cloud
Tired: Steampunk, Embedded Steampunk, Cool Ranch Steampunk, Steampunk Platinum
Wired: ABAP Cloud
ABAP Cloud is the singular focus of ABAP extensions for S/4HANA in all its variations. Use a common target and ADT tools to manage extensions that fit tightly in-bounds of predefined spaces. From a renaming perspective, this is not a bad one. It encapsulates a singular approach and covers over what may have gotten confusing with Steampunk flavors.
Paul's Juicy Hot Take(TM): this is what SAP needs, and not surprising. Get a common enhancement/extension mode in place for ABAP, standardize it across on-prem and cloud editions, and keep the pedal to the metal for eliminating customizations that wreck upgrades and prevent cloud moves altogether. However, there will still be plenty of large SAP installations that won't be able to fully embrace this mode. That long tail will take years to age off. PM
Am I a Waiter or Am I a Doctor?
In his recent video, Dave Farley contemplates what a software developer’s job looks like these days and asks whether we’re like waiters (bringing the customers just what they order) or more like doctors (using their expertise to provide a solution).
In the SAP world, many developers are quite comfortable in the waiter’s role and almost prefer the "code to specification" mode. Others simply don’t have much choice. And don’t get me started on the clients who hire the waiters but expect medical advice for the same money.
As Dave says, the software developers are “problem solvers, not order followers” and I believe that serving as waiters all the time is unhealthy. The way out of that role is by establishing trust with our “patients” (also accurate word for some SAP customers, cough). This can be done by delivering quality work and being confident in your solutions. (Many good points on this in the video.)
And even if you are stuck in a waiter role, then be the best darn’ waiter you could be. Don’t be that guy who just shrugs “I don’t drink beer” when asked if the restaurant serves any local beer. JP
Directus Democratizing Data: Doable?
"Democratizing" enterprise things is an overused trope in tech. I can see the good intentions when folks discuss it; it's just…things never work out that way. The whole thing feels like self-driving cars. Every now and again someone comes along and makes a promise about a thing we all want, and then has to go back to the drawing board when it's not quite there yet.
I count it as a positive that this TechCrunch piece uses "democratize" about startup Directus, but it doesn't appear in Directus' own site or materials. The idea is pretty cool: think about all those various databases and data sources that sprout up in businesses. They all wind up as targets of automations and new processes for teams, so why not have a common, consistent way to manage authentication, API-ification through REST/GraphQL, and other SDK/package creation?
Directus targets developers: "We remain exclusively focused on the developer as our ideal customer profile. We are talking and working with developers." Knowing that developers still hold the keys for future low-code and rapid development solutions and giving them power to act quickly is a smart niche to be in. PM
The Ides of Devtober
The idea of the annual SAP Devtoberfest event is (or was?) to provide the experience similar to the Demojams that used to open SAP TechEd conferences. Those no-holds-barred experimentations were something like The Iron Chef with the SAP technology du jour as the secret ingredient.
I enjoyed last year’s Devtoberfest so much that a story about it made it into the inaugural issue of our Nerdletter. This year though it felt more like Devtobermarketing, with sessions heavily focused on SAP solutions on sale.
Don’t get me wrong, if you are an SAP practitioner with specific interest in AppGyver or SAP Work Zone, those sessions probably provided valuable information. But after combing through most of the recordings, I couldn’t find much content that would titillate the senses and broaden our SAP developer horizons (much like last year's Cloud week).
The good exceptions were the sessions mentioned in the last issue, Basics of Containerization, and some of the UI sessions. But I hope that next year Devtoberfest can go back to being a delicious amuse-bouche before the TechEd instead of being a bland cafeteria version of the main entrée. JP
Twitter WFH: "Forever" Is Just A Word
The sheer craziness of happenings at Twitter recently include Elon Musk's work-from-home policy change. Before his acquisition, their policy had been work from home "forever" or "wherever you feel most creative and productive". Now, it's a little more "show up or show yourself out".
I strongly support working remotely for anyone whose job can handle it. Here are some Paul thoughts on how to keep the physical presence angle of workplaces moving in the right direction, for those so inclined to preserve and expand remote work options.
Employees, vote with your feet. If working from home works for you, make it known to your employer first by telling them, second by leaving if they don't allow it.
Employers, recruit with your perks. Allowing people to be always-remote is good.
Employers in large cities, maybe move away from the "huge office in expensive-to-park downtown area" to "several satellite offices in various locations throughout the metropolitan area". If you feel the need to occasionally bring people together, why make it suck?
Those of us who've had a decade or two (or more!) of career time before WFH became normal had the chance to work in a certain way. Our careers were shaped by being physically present with people in an office, for all the great and terrible things that came with that. We owe younger folks (and ourselves) the chance to shape physically, psychologically, and professionally better careers in the new world. PM
TL;DW
While going through Devtoberfest videos for the other story, I thought there ought to be some AI tool to summarize a video in a few words. Turns out TL;DW is not as simple as one might think but I still found some interesting tools that attempt to do that.
Summarize.tech - the website looks like one of those shady "domain for sale" pages you land on by accidentally mistyping a URL. This utilitarian tool powered by GPT-3 can summarize in a few words a video from a file or a YouTube link. The results I got from several random videos were odd. I suspect it stumbles when there isn’t one clear subject. Well, as they say “cheap, good, fast - pick any two” and it is free and indeed very fast.
Pictory (free trial) was a nice surprise. It offers pretty cool tools to produce the video highlights and some “text to video” options. While it also didn’t provide amazing results in summarizing video content, I think it’s the best of such tools so far.
Watch our Nerdletter Talk video for more. JP
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