Are you a Passionate #PowerPlatform developer? How to find your next big thing?
What I love about
the #PowerPlatform is that we have tones of new features every 6 months and if
you are an avid learner, it gives no reason to you to be stagnant and not learn
new things every day. You have numerous options from creating #powerapps, #pcf
component or just explore new enhancements in the #dynamics365 applications.
After spending some
time on exploring some core capabilities of the #PowerPlatform and playing with
the field service application, I have been thinking about what is the next big
thing I should focus on. I was looking for something challenging which has an
impact on us. To decide on what should be the next, I decided to take a step
back and look at the options I have to decide on what to do next. I looked in
technology blogs, read books and listened to many podcasts which helped me to
clear my mind and shortlist some major places I could start. I would like to
share what I did in the hope that it may help other folks who are also looking
for their next challenge:
Industry Reports & Microsoft investments
Like it or not,
business needs and drive product development. It is the business, industry and
eventually profits which are driving the investment into products which we can
work on implementation or extension. I think one the best sources you can get
your own next best challenge is industry or economic reports. I always have an
eye on #Gartner reports. I see people share #Gartner reports back and forth on
LinkedIn to show how a product is doing in the competition. I look at it from a
different angel. I always read the #Gartner report but looking at the
weaknesses. Weaknesses in the competition drive demand for innovations and
solutions. By reading reports, you will understand what are the weaknesses in a
product or platform and how these weaknesses matter to end customers. The next
big challenge can be addressing some of the weaknesses!
Another indicator is
Microsoft investments. When I see Microsoft is investing heavily on a platform
or product, it gives me a good idea on what is the next big thing. Of course,
Microsoft has a big team of industry experts and awesome people familiar in various
businesses. Speaking of myself, I do trust the investment numbers of big
players because that is going to create a demand for my innovative mind!
What do you think
about this one?
What about cross-domain ideas?
Our field is fluid.
It changes every day. It is not only #PowerPlatform. It is the nature of our
field. There was a time when implementing a CRM was the goal of organisations
but now CRM is only one piece in the big picture! Have you even thought of creating
something including multiple technologies? How about combining #Azure and
#PowerPlatform? The topic of cross-domain work is the one I am very interested.
I have explored Azure
Search, Azure
Speech, Azure
Bots, Azure Documents and Azure IoT Hub alongside #PowerPlatform. The
synergy between #Azure and #PowerPlatform creates a system which really serves
customers better. If you are out of ideas in #PowerPlatform, then start looking
in #Azure. I bet you will have a lovely time learning new things and explore
how #Azure can help you to do better implementations!
Working on community Ideas
There is a long list
(and it is growing day by day) of product ideas in the IDEAS PORTAL. The
#PowerPlatform product team does a good job on assessing, shortlisting and
working on the great ideas to release in future waves. However, it is not
possible to implement all of ideas due to various reasons such as criticality,
demand, priorities and etc. Passionate people in the community can assess these
ideas and see if they like the idea. Once chosen, you can work on the idea and
release your own source to the GitHub to spread its benefit. Publishing your
source helps the idea get bigger and your code quality will be better, too!
XrmToolBox plugins
I think XrmToolBox is the single best thing that
the Dynamics community has come up with. I use it in every project. It inspires
me when I see friends out them develop such a lovely plugin that works like a
charm. (Big shoutout to Tanguy
Touzard , Jonas Rapp and Aiden Kaskela whom I
follow when it comes to the XrmToolBox)
I never had a major problem using the tool which tells me how many good coders
are out there. Your next best thing can be a XrmToolBox plugin or an extension of an
existing one. If you think your idea is small or bad, you better think again. There is no small or bad idea. Once
you float your idea, it will become a snowball. Other awesome people contribute
to yours and you will see how your small idea will become a big one helping
others to do better. Even if you have no small idea, you can extend the
functionality of an existing plugin. You always have an option to choose from
:) but remember one thing: Being stagnant is NO option!
The above list is
not all I explored but it shortlists some of the things you can relate to. I
would love to hear from you and see what is your experience in finding your
next big thing?
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