Stop Being So Damn Precious

What's top of mind:

The last time we were in touch, summer was in full swing. Between then and now, a friend of mine died. He was young, it was unexpected, and I was devastated—I still am. And I’ve had a hard time writing this newsletter since then. I started a new draft no less than 10 times, but I could never get past the first paragraph. Not because I didn’t have a lot to say, but because I didn't know how to make any of it relevant.?

I was sure anything I had to say here paled in comparison to the gravity of grief, and I couldn't see how writing about SAP had anything to do with my loss. But the truth is that we experience so many life events in congruence; two things often happen at once. In this case, my personal upset coincided with professional growth and it was impossible to pull them apart. All summer, I experienced sorrow and growth in tandem.?

What did I learn??

Relationships are arguably the most important things in our lives. (They literally help us live longer.)? And since this space is about learning and teaching, I’d argue that being open and vulnerable and connected to others in professional settings is almost as valuable. The key? If you ask me, I think we could all stand to stop being so precious.??

What does “being precious” mean exactly? The standard definition of precious refers to rare metals or jewels of great value. In this context, though, the second definition provided by Cambridge defines precious as ”behaving in a very formal and unnatural way by giving too much attention to details that are not important and trying too hard to be perfect.”? I don’t think I’m overly formal or unnatural, but I do give “too much attention to details that are not important and [try] too hard to be perfect.”?

When I look back at my relationship with my friend who passed, I think of the things we didn’t get to do as often as I think of all the things we did. For example, we never went backpacking in a national park like we talked about multiple times, even though he even bought the gear on my advice. I’m so disappointed we got caught up waiting for the “right time” that we never made the trip. On the flipside, he insisted my partner and I come to Burning Man (his favorite non-festival festival) in 2023. It was THAT Burning Man that flooded and turned into a mud pit. While there were cool and inspiring moments throughout the week, my favorite memories are of us simply sitting on our camp “porch” chatting about the festival, and what we saw, and life in general. And even though I left feeling like I’d never go back, I have a massive amount of gratitude for those moments now. If we had waited for the “perfect year” or the “perfect camp setup” or the “perfect weather”, we wouldn’t have had that experience together.??

It raises the question: if I’m capable of being that precious in a part of my life where I’m incredibly comfortable (AKA with my closest friends), where else could I be hyper-focused on the wrong details??

Here’s an example:

I recently worked on a training project to help a company with their SAP implementation. IMO, my team joined the project? way too late. As a result, we were missing a lot of the documentation we would have used to build our training. In the past I would only join projects where I would be “set up for success.”? I joined this project knowing conditions wouldn’t be ideal. But what it taught me is that I’ve been way too precious about what “success” actually looks like.??

Case in point: I was in the Hypercare phase—troubleshooting any problems that arose for the team—at a small office in the midwest, the second week after SAP had gone live. Just before lunchtime on Thursday,? Gina (names have been changed to protect the innocent) called me over to ask about an order that had been “blocked” from shipping. In this office, there were real-life consequences to this order not dropping to the warehouse for shipping the same day. Gina started crying. This had never happened to her before.?

Something she could have easily fixed in the old system two weeks ago was now completely over her head. She felt disempowered and told me she felt like she failed her customer (a relationship that was obviously important to her). I sat with her. Because the issue wasn’t training related, I couldn’t help her directly fix it. But I listened to her, and then I escalated the ticket to the appropriate parties. They resolved it, the shipment went out, Gina learned what caused the hangup, and my idea of success changed. I no longer needed to have all the factors in place for a perfect training experience; it was fulfilling enough to meet people and their problems exactly where they are.??

What’s in it for you?

Where are you being too precious? Are you waiting for something to be “just so” before taking action? What if the conditions are never perfect? Do it anyway. Go ahead and do/say/act on the things that matter to you. Trust that, with the help of those around you, you’ll figure it out as you go. And keep those relationships close.?

What I’m learning:??

Something playful this time! I enjoy puzzles like Sudoku and Wordle. I’ve tried my hand at cryptic crossword puzzles. Despite watching YouTube tutorials, I never really “got” it. But now I’m hooked on MinuteCryptic.com! In the spirit of Wordle, the creators give one cryptic crossword clue each day.??

I often get it wrong. Most of the time, I use hints. Even when I get it right, I’m not always able to show my work. But I love playing! And my favorite part might actually be watching the two-minute video that explains the structure of each puzzle. One of the creators, clarifies the definition (either the start or end of the clue), the wordplay, and what they call “wordplay indicators” that tell you how to reach the clue.??

There’s something so satisfying about making sense of the puzzle during his explanations. From a learning perspective, having these daily, micro-learning segments that give an example first and an explanation after is surprisingly effective—and fun!

What’s new with SAP:?

At SAP TechEd 2024, SAP highlighted the AI assistant Joule for its new capabilities. Product Manager Cecilia Huergo demonstrated how Joule’s natural-language interface allows developers to rapidly customize SAP S/4HANA with fields like tracking numbers for customer returns. They claim Joule anticipates business needs by suggesting relevant field properties and APIs, simplifying complex integrations and service models. With these features, which are set to release in Q1 2025, Joule looks like it could quickly deliver on the promises to amplify productivity by making sophisticated SAP development more accessible.

Hot take:

All of a sudden the use cases and benefits of SAP’s AI initiatives are starting to come into focus. This quote, in particular, from the TechEd keynote article blows my mind:

“...Developers can use natural language commands to create new custom fields within SAP S/4HANA Cloud.”

Why? Well, anyone who has worked on an S/4 implementation knows just how big a lift it was to add custom fields for a customer in the past. The idea that this effort could be replaced by using a simple natural language request to make the change seems BIG.??

What I’m reading:?

What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life by James Hillman

I’m obviously not feeling sentimental at all! ???? There’s so much I could say about this book, but one takeaway especially applies here. Hillman argues that when we are stuck and don’t know which path we should choose, it’s worth asking:

“Does this path, this choice, make me larger or smaller?”

He emphasizes that enlarging life is about embracing our own mortality, developing our depth, and finding meaning in our actions and choices. On the contrary, diminishing life often results from avoiding our mortality and living superficially, either by what society asks of us or by avoiding discomfort.?

So, here I am, embracing mortality and finding meaning and inviting you to do the same. Let’s get large.?

What else?

There’s about 20,000 people subscribed to this newsletter. LinkedIn analytics tell me about 5,000 of those subscribers will open this article. Of those 5,000, I’m not sure how many make it all the way to the end. But, if you’re here, thank you. I’m grateful to you for letting me share part of my life with you. And if you share your stories with me, either via comments or messages or (gasp!) IRL, please continue doing so. Our connection matters to me.

Looking forward,

JV

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