The IBM Middleware User Community was created to offer IBM product users more valuable content and that all starts with its 88,000+ members!
The IMWUC Member Spotlight is designed to showcase active members in the IMWUC who contribute their time and expertise to keep this community an informative, bustling place. Last time we met Gerald Beasley, a Tivoli user group leader who works with BigFix and enjoys golfing. This week we'll learn about another active leader, Jason Verly.
Jason was first involved with the Maximo Manufacturing Users Group (MMUG) about 3 years ago when he presented at their user group meeting. Soon after InterConnect 2013 he started blogging for the Tivoli User Community. Fast-forward two years to InterConnect 2015 when Jason started to see MMUG in a new light. He realized that if their group was a "user community," the community needed to be more involved, and their current IBM Liaison was doing too much of the heavy lifting. Jason took a more aggressive role in guiding the group and eventually became the group leader.
Let's welcome Jason to the blog!
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love cycling and photography. I recently took up Tae Kwon Do with my kids.
How do you interact with IBM’s products on a daily basis?
IBM Maximo Asset Management software is critical to our maintenance and reliability programs at Davids Co Foods International, so I'm in it almost all day. My involvement with Maximo could range from troubleshooting an escalated issue from an end user, updating our internal support blog, editing/developing workflows/app screen changes/escalations, or writing new BIRT reports.
What was the best user group event you’ve participated in? What made it awesome?
Our MMUG recently had a user meeting as part of IMC (International Maintenance Conference) 2015 conference. It was the first group meeting after the merger between the Life Sciences and Manufacturing user communities. When we sat around and saw how similar each group's uses and needs for Maximo were, the animosity some members were feeling about the merger melted away. That was awesome.
What is your biggest struggle as a user group leader? How do you handle it?
The biggest struggle has been the merger of MMUG and the Life Sciences communities. The Manufacturing side was initially against it and we had to deal with some miscommunication steps taken. Once we got over that, we had some mixed messages from the Life Sciences group on the transition as well. It wasn't until our first group meeting a couple of weeks ago did I realize how much Life Sciences was feeling/struggling with the merger. When we all finally sat down at our user group meeting, I showed each side that we're all worried about the same things as it relates to Maximo – what's Maximo's development roadmap look like, how can I use Maximo to be more reliable, what challenges am I facing from my customers or auditors, etc. Once I gave a bigger picture that these are things we both are concerned about everyone felt better about the direction of the merged groups.
Any words of wisdom for user group leaders (current and future)?
A couple of pieces of advice. One, if you decide to stand up and take the role of group leader, be honest about how much you care about the group. Emotions can run high when you have 6-8 people sitting around together at a conference and you dream about what you "could" do with the group. As a group leader, you'll eventually have to put those ideas to work and you'll need to be as determined back home as you were at the conference. Two, be willing to take a hit or two for the team. As the "face" of the group, you will sometimes get emails from community members who aren't happy with something. Sometimes they're unhappy about something you had control over, sometimes not. Don't take the easy path of deflecting blame, even when it really wasn't your fault. Three, just keep trying to do better.
You pull up to Starbucks. What do you order?
Large vanilla latte.
Most importantly… if you were a box of cereal, what kind would you be and why?
I'd have to say granola – a little tough and hard to swallow at first, but let me sit for a bit and I'm sweet and easy to handle.