Mariano, "How do you find time to post on the Dynamics GP Newsgroup?"

Folks, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been asked this question. Despite working full time, having a family, a few children to take care of, one of the most successful blogs in the Dynamics GP community to keep up with, and a weekend full of activities, most of you may think that my life revolves around answering questions in the newsgroup -- well if you ask my wife, you may get a definitive YES to that statement.

I do enjoy reading the Dynamics GP Newsgroup, the Dynamics GP Developer Newsgroup and the SQL Server Programming Newsgroup. These outlets are perhaps the best places [of my own interest] to pick up some of the everyday challenges facing users and developers from all around the world. In addition, I believe newsgroup participation is perhaps the best method -- bar training -- to maintain your competitive edge in this business.

So here is the secret! From Monday to Friday, between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, I review the newsgroups 4 times a day -- the one(s) of my interest for the day. During the review period, I read the new posts, plus previous posts I am keeping an eye on. If the answer is immediate or if there is a blog article, KB article, or other resource I can refer the poster to, I immediately reply with an answer. Some posts demand some research, for example, those requesting a code snippet or those for which the answer is not as apparent. This is the real gain for me! I love playing with code and I love testing stuff out to respond to a post.

NOTE: It's important to always clarify what version and build number or service pack of the product you are using. 9 times out of 10, you will receive a faster response and the response may make more sense within the context of the product you are using.

Once I figure out the answer to a problem, in my next cycle I proceed to respond to those posts and review the new posts. But life is not always perfect, time slips and sometimes I am buried in the tasks at hand -- after all, the customer signs the check. This is where the night time owl comes into play.

My evenings are centered around homework with the kids, some family time, and... no sleep! That's right! Like many individuals around the world, sleeping is not one of my virtues. I find the evenings to be very conducing to writing -- newsgroup posts, blog articles, articles for MSDynamicsWorld, among others.

Now that you know my secret, I encourage you to participate actively in the Dynamics GP newsgroup or the newsgroup of your choice, but more importantly, to reward the person(s) who answered your question with a simple "Yes" if the post answered your question* and/or "Yes" if the post was helpful to you*.

NOTE: * These options are available with the web reader.

Please check the links to the newsgroups on the right frame of the blog and get involved with the Dynamics GP community.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Comments

Mariano Gomez said…
Mark at DynamicAccounting.net says: Fellow MVP Mariano Gomez has posted about how he answers questions in the GP Newsgroup. My process is a little different from Mariano's so I thought that I would give it a minute here to highlight the different ways we work.

http://msdynamicsgp.blogspot.com/2009/03/newsgroup-posting.html
March 30, 2009 at 11:41 AM
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