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Nurture a maker and champion community

This article describes a common goal for Power Platform—nurturing a maker and champion community. It follows a structured framework that includes defining clear objectives, measurable key results, and actionable initiatives. This article aims to guide you in creating your own vision for Power Platform adoption.

Vision

Nurturing a maker and champion community is a common vision for Power Platform adoption because it fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. With a network of enthusiastic and knowledgeable users, organizations can drive widespread adoption and maximize the platform's potential. Champions and makers serve as advocates, mentors, and problem-solvers, helping to spread best practices and support their peers.

This community-driven approach empowers employees to take ownership of their projects, reduces reliance on IT, and accelerates the development of solutions. It also encourages cross-team collaboration, leading to more innovative and impactful outcomes. By recognizing and rewarding contributions, organizations can motivate and retain talent, ensuring sustained engagement and growth.

A thriving maker and champion community helps create a supportive environment where employees feel empowered to experiment, learn, and innovate. This community can ultimately drive the organization's digital transformation and achieve strategic goals.

Objectives

Objectives are the key themes or focus areas that the strategy aims to achieve. They are broad, overarching goals that align with the organizational vision and priorities. Objectives provide direction and set the stage for the initiatives and key results. Objectives help ensure that everyone in the organization understands what the strategy aims to accomplish and why it's important.

Typical objectives for nurturing a maker and champion community include:

  • Build a thriving low-code community: Foster a vibrant and engaged low-code community that encourages incremental innovation and widespread participation.
  • Identify and recruit potential champions: Build a network of enthusiastic and knowledgeable users who can advocate for the Power Platform and support their peers.
  • Increase awareness: Increase awareness and understanding of the Power Platform through targeted evangelism and comprehensive training programs.
  • Create a maker onboarding program: Streamline the onboarding process for new makers, ensuring they have the tools and knowledge to succeed.
  • Empower developer and maker community with process and resource clarity: Provide clear guidance and resources to enable developers and makers to create effective solutions.
  • Provide specialized training and resources: Implement comprehensive upskilling programs to ensure users are proficient in using Power Platform.
  • Showcase success stories and best practices: Inspire and guide the community by highlighting successful projects and effective strategies.
  • Develop a centralized communication platform: Provide a single source of truth for all Power Platform-related information. Ensure seamless communication and collaboration within the maker and champion community.
  • Drive initiatives to kickstart and maintain adoption: Plan initiatives that drive initial adoption and sustain long-term engagement with Power Platform.
  • Empower employees to solve their own problems: Enable employees to independently address and resolve issues using Power Platform. Reduce barriers to development and streamline the app-building process.
  • Ensure makers have a support foundation: Provide robust support to makers to ensure their success.
  • Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing: Create a collaborative environment where makers and champions can share insights and best practices.
  • Recognize and reward contributions: Motivate and retain champions by acknowledging their efforts and achievements.
  • Encourage continuous learning and development: Promote ongoing skill development and innovation within the community.
  • Facilitate mentorship and support networks: Provide guidance and support to new and existing makers through mentorship programs.
  • Align community goals with organizational objectives: Ensure the maker and champion community contributes to the organization’s strategic goals.

Measurable key results

Key results are specific, quantifiable outcomes that indicate progress towards achieving the strategic objectives. They provide clear benchmarks for success and help in tracking performance. Defining key results is necessary because they offer a way to measure the effectiveness of the initiatives and ensure that the objectives are met. Key results should be realistic, time-bound, and directly linked to the objectives.

Typical key results, aligned with some of the objectives, for nurturing a maker and champion community include:

  • Build a thriving low-code community:
    • Build a thriving low-code community where a culture of incremental innovation is fostered, with ___% of employees participating in low-code initiatives.
    • Host quarterly training workshops on Power Platform features with a goal of 80% of registered members attending.
  • Create a maker onboarding program:
    • Enable citizen developers through a standard onboarding process and training, increasing IT capacity by ___% and decreasing time to value by ___%.
  • Provide specialized training and resources:
    • Encourage makers to obtain certifications, like Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals, with a target of __ new certifications per quarter.
    • Cultivate a low-code first mindset among employees, with ___% of employees trained and skilled in low-code development.
  • Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing:
    • Ensure employees are innovating faster and across team lines, with ___% of projects involving cross-team collaboration.
  • Empower employees to solve their own problems:
    • Empower employees to solve their own problems, with ___% of issues resolved without IT intervention.
    • Enable employees to build faster on the Power Platform by reducing enterprise-wide access barriers, achieving a ___% reduction in development time.
    • Move faster from new ideas to deployed valuable products, with a target of a ___ month turnaround for new projects.
  • Showcase success stories and best practices:
    • Publish success stories and case studies with a goal of publishing __ stories per quarter.
    • Encourage makers to share templates and best practices within the community, aiming for __ new resources added each month.

Key initiatives

Initiatives are the specific actions or projects that need to be implemented to achieve the objectives. They outline what needs to be done in the immediate term, in the next year, and in the next three years. Initiatives provide a roadmap for action and ensure that there's a clear plan to reach the objectives. Initiatives should be actionable, prioritized, and aligned with the key results.

Typical initiatives, aligned with some of the objectives, for nurturing a maker and champion community include:

  • Build a thriving low-code community:
    • Select potential champions from various departments based on their expertise and enthusiasm.
    • Develop a rewards program to recognize and incentivize contributions from makers, champions, and departments.
    • Organize initial meetings and events to foster a sense of community and collaboration.
    • Formalize the champion role with specific responsibilities, training, and recognition.
  • Increase awareness
    • Offer certification programs to validate skills and knowledge.
    • Create online courses and training materials to support self-paced learning.
    • Launch a campaign to highlight the benefits and capabilities of the platform.
    • Establish Communities of Practice (CoP) to facilitate ongoing learning and collaboration.
    • Address obstacles to adoption by providing structured training and certification pathways.
  • Create a maker onboarding program:
    • Develop a maker portal with resources such as development guidelines, self-guided learning modules, and success stories.
    • Implement automated welcome messages and portal access for new makers.
    • Develop an onboarding newsletter and provide regular updates and guidance on Power Platform governance and training resources.
  • Empower developer and maker community with process and resource clarity:
    • Establish application lifecycle management processes to streamline solution deployments.
    • Create guidelines for solution classifications, environment strategy, and data loss prevention measures.
    • Clarify roles and responsibilities for managing the platform.
  • Provide specialized training and resources:
    • Develop a Community of Practice for Power Platform practitioners to share knowledge and best practices.
    • Introduce gamified elements to make learning engaging and competitive.
    • Implement structured training plans and certification programs.
    • Establish a process for capturing and developing innovative ideas.
  • Showcase success stories and best practices:
    • Collect and share stories of successful Power Platform implementations.
    • Document and distribute detailed use cases and success stories.
    • Recognize and celebrate achievements within the community.
  • Develop a centralized communication platform:
    • Create comprehensive documentation for data loss prevention policies, environment strategy, and intake processes.
    • Develop a repository for security guidelines and parameters.
    • Maintain up-to-date governance documentation with version control.
  • Drive initiatives to kickstart and maintain adoption:
    • Launch efforts to promote the platform and build a community.
    • Regularly clean up unused environments to maintain organization and efficiency.
    • Develop a central site for communication and collaboration.
  • Empower employees to solve their own problems:
    • Implement a system for IT to stay informed about new features and updates.
    • Streamline support processes through automation.
    • Create a clear path for transitioning apps from citizen development to IT support.
  • Ensure makers have a support foundation:
    • Develop tailored adoption programs for different user groups.
    • Outline a strategic plan for community development and engagement.
    • Seek opportunities to engage with the community and promote participation.
    • Encourage community growth through incentives and leadership backing.