2020 is Looking Bright, with a new product launched and a new Qlik Luminary award received. #Qlik #QlikLuminary #WeAreWebhelp #WebhelpUK @ProductDev_WUK
Whilst we are now in the last week of the (traditionally loooong!) month of January, 2020 is already off to a cracking start! We’ve hit the ground running and the year ahead looks bright and promising.
New Year, New Product
On January 7th, we launched our new product into the business, supporting schedule-driven pay for several thousand of our front-line colleagues. This new process, and associated visual products, allowed us to remove our legacy manual timesheets processes, and enables our colleagues to picture their pay before payroll processing begins.
We deliver these visualisations using #Qlik technology – naturally! You can read more about the My Pay product at my #QlikGallery post on #QlikCommunity:
Last Monday, Qlik announced the Qlik Luminary Class of 2020 – the best and brightest in the Qlik ecosystem. I’ve been unashamedly vocal and supportive of this program since my first award in 2017. I’ve made more contacts, enjoyed more events, shared more calls, briefings, meetups and learning experiences year on year since then, than in all the years gone by! You can expect my enthusiasm to burn brightly throughout 2020 as I celebrate my FOURTH award!
Thanks again to everyone at Qlik for the ongoing recognition, to Differentia Consulting for the ongoing support, and to my #QlikLuminary friends for being such an amazing group of people!
Please do read more about the program here, and Meet the Class of 2020:
The weeks after the annual Qlik Luminary Meetup are always hectic – perhaps even more hectic than the week of the Meetup itself! I’ll explain why later, but I’ll start by looking back to the biggest, and arguably best, Luminary Meetup so far.
Luminary Meetup 2019
The Luminary Meetup in 2019 boasted the longest list of attendees – with around 40 of the 120 or so Luminaries making the pilgrimage to Lund, Sweden, late in October. The Meetup is a must-attend, Luminary-only event – but this is only one of the attributes which make it special.
Adding the Qlik personnel involved – including those responsible for the Luminary Program – this might feel like a big group. Not a bit of it – it feels more like a family. As a three-time Luminary, I look forward equally to both catching up with old friends and meeting the new Class. There is also usually a little disappointment when we learn who is missing.
The Meetup itself is a short, sharp, action-packed couple of days worth of sharing and challenging in equal measure, between Qlik and the Luminaries. Just like any family, the debate is lively!
This family Meetup was bittersweet in one respect, however. We learned that Viktoria Lindback, a Senior Manager at Qlik, and one of the torchbearers of the Luminary Program, would be leaving Qlik to pursue an MBA. At least we were able to give her a fitting send off, with our warmest wishes for the future!
Luminary Program 2020
Applications are now open for the 2020 Program, and these must be submitted by the end of November. So why would you want to apply? Personally speaking, I gain most from just ‘talking Qlik’ with like-minded individuals – listening to others experiences and sharing our own stories generates so many ideas that we can discuss within our team. In addition to the Meetup, there are other virtual Luminary-only events held throughout the year, giving more opportunities for the exchange of knowledge.
I also admit to enjoying the recognition that the Qlik Luminary status brings. Whether at physical events, or online, the staus is recognised by Qlik, Partners and other Customers and this means that it is a pleasure to wear the badge.
You should read the reference material, search online for #QlikLuminary and then come join our family!
Formerly known as Qonnections, this is another must-attend annual event – but the first big difference between this event and the Luminary Meetup is that QlikWorld is public. The second big difference, as you can probably guess, is the scale. With more than 3,000 delegates, QlikWorld consumes a large conference centre for its duration – actually for the whole week, as delegates arrive the weekend before, and sometimes stay on afterwards.
However, despite their differences, these events do also have many things in common. Foremost here is the enthusiasm and passion for the Qlik ecosystem – and the sharing of these emotions is infectious. Like the Meetup, the QlikWorld environment encourages the exchange of ideas – there are hundreds of Breakout Sessions, hosted by Qlik, Partners and Customers, covering the Qlik platform from end-to-end, from all angles.
Hosting a Breakout Session is a real privilege – to be able to share your journey, experience and knowledge with others is very special.
QlikWorld hits Phoenix, Arizona in May 2020 – just be there!
To finish, back to what makes the weeks after the Luminary Meetup so busy…
It comes down to both looking back and looking forwards.
Looking back, catching up on what you missed after being out of the office; then making sense of what you’ve learned at the Meetup and working out how you are going to write it up, and weave it into your day job.
Looking forwards, preparing your Luminary Program application; then constructing a story which will be interesting for the audience and working out how you are going to write it up, and weave it into your QlikWorld Breakout Session submission.
Phew!
The good news is, as of now, I’m offically looking forwards!
My thoughts on the recent #LuminaryMeetup at #Qlik HQ, our subsequent #UserDiscovery session back at #WebhelpUK, the #QlikLuminary program and the #QlikCommunity re-launch!
Qlik Luminary Meetup
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – the #QlikLuminary group is an amazing group of people, and it’s a privilege to be in their company. The majority of the time, with a few notable exceptions (including, but not limited to, #Qonnections and #QlikDevGroup meetings) the company is virtual, of course. However, the annual #LuminaryMeetup in Lund changes that significantly – for a couple of days, and nights, many of us are together – and we are together with Qlik. We’ve joked previously about the collective noun for Luminaries, but it now seems sensible to go with ‘bundle’, given the content of the Qlik Sense November 2018 release! This year, the bundle reached 30! It is a full-on couple of days, brimming with content, debate and forthright discussion. There is something to be taken from every session, every topic and every interaction. I enjoyed this year’s Meetup immensely! There is an excellent write-up of some of the details – with more pictures! – on the Qlik Blog.
User Discovery
#UserDiscovery session participants at #WebhelpUK
During Day 2 of the #LuminaryMeetup, we took part in a user discovery workshop session with Qlik Research & Usability team members. In addition to the experience of simply being able to collaborate with fellow Luminaries and Qlik colleagues, we took some genuine inspiration from this session back to our own ‘Discovery Lab’ in Falkirk, Scotland. The GCS Product Development team’s latest product will make our workforce scheduling, incentive scheme and payroll processing data visible to each individual advisor and team leader. We felt that getting a deep understanding of how this population would consume, understand and navigate this data would be crucial to the product’s success. We also thought that an interactive session would help us to better gauge the level of awareness – actually, the Data Literacy – of this audience, specifically with respect to this data and the relevant business processes. Long story short – it was a great success! We had four highly engaged and enthusiastic, cross-departmental groups who came up with some excellent suggestions, commentary and even designs! Afterwards, one delegate told me, “It was exciting. I’m excited. I can’t wait to see what the final product will look like!”. “Me too!”, I grinned from ear to ear, “Me too!”.
Becoming a Qlik Luminary
#LuminaryMeetup placecard
So, why should you apply to be a Qlik Luminary?
Qlik’s own introduction at Qlik Luminary Program gives a collection of Luminary benefits and characteristics – it also contains links to the current Qlik Luminary Class of 2018, and to the 2019 Qlik Luminary Application Form.
However, if you’ve read this far – or if, you’ve read any of my earlier blogs, including my recent series on Qonnections 2018 – then hopefully you’ve got a flavour of the personal and professional positives I’ve taken from a range of fantastic experiences over the last two years.
But don’t just take my word for it: look through Qlik Community (newly relaunched this week, looking and feeling better than ever, by the way!) and review the quality and volume of content authored by this group; or search for #QlikLuminary on Twitter to find help, snippets and signposts to all kinds of useful resources.
Then, ask yourself, “Why would I NOT want to be part of the Qlik Luminary Program?”. Whatever you decide, don’t hang about – applications close on 30th November 2018.
Neil's Product Development Blog 