MSR Consulting TechnoBlog

Why I’m not a Microsoft MVP

May 29th, 2006

Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals (MVP’s) are recognized, credible, and accessible individuals with expertise in one or more Microsoft® products who actively participate in online and offline communities to share their knowledge and expertise with other Microsoft customers.

 

The MVP’s are awarded through a nomination period where their past year’s contributions to the technical community are compared against those of their peers. Recipients of the award are determined through review cycles in that nomination period.

Individuals are nominated to be considered for MVPs by their peers or Microsoft based on activities in the offline or online technical communities. The MVP Program and annual award is based solely on an individual’s contributions from the previous year and those contributions are then compared amongst the other candidates for any given nomination cycle to determine who will be awarded.

Being that the contributions are the decision of the individual, the program is agnostic about what can or cannot prevent those contributions. We look at the entire year’s contributions, in total, and make the determination following the review process during the nomination cycle.

And there’s the crux of it.  Basically you get someone to nominate you (or Microsoft does it themselves) and a pool of candidates is created.  Yes, just by being nominated you are in the pool.  From that pool then a certain number of selections are made to be awarded MVP status.  That status is then good for a year.  Where Microsoft contributions and selections are concerned the ‘technical community’ is predominantly the Microsoft newsgroups so I assume that’s the area that they can ‘compare’ to the other candidates.  The reality is that you and I know that Microsoft can choose whomever it wishes for any reason whatsoever, and that’s why most of the language regarding MVP selection is so loose.  Here’s the thing though, I don’t have a problem with that.  In fact, as I mentioned earlier I totally support the objectives of the MVP program and what Microsoft desires to use it for.  I have no doubt that if it was something that I really wanted (given the sales situation last week I may have to start wanting it more now I guess?) that I would have no issue becoming a MVP.  I could just start making all of my posts into the Microsoft newsgroups and accomplish that pretty quickly I would imagine.  Although after this article I might have to kiss that wish goodbye.

My objections are rooted in the fact that as a consultancy, or a client of consultancies, it isn’t cleanly delineated in any sort of hierarchy that makes sense.  What should a MVP actually mean to those people?  The right answer is that it should mean nothing, heck there’s no reason for them (or me) to even know much about the program, much less strive to obtain the title.  But if someone presents it to them as an asset and makes them aware of it then the title “Most Valuable Professional” implies that the recipient of the title is a professional in the technology arena dealing with Microsoft products. 

On the one hand you have a statement like this from a Microsoft MVP Group Manager:

Microsoft MVPs are credible technology experts who are among the very best, most accessible community members.

And on the other Microsoft says:

Microsoft MVPs represent a diverse group of people from various backgrounds and professions. MVPs are artists and technical trainers, authors and students, police officers, homemakers, firefighters, doctors and more. They range in age from 18 to 80 and live in all areas of the world. Many MVPs host websites, author best-selling books and train others, always finding the time to give back to the community. It is this “spirit of community” and desire to share technical expertise with a sense of dedicated professionalism that truly reflects the Microsoft MVP Award.

Homemakers?  Firefighters?  This latter statement when read by me is what the program is all about.  There are a lot of folks out there who are incredibly knowledgeable and have a great deal to offer the community.  They do so of their own free will, with nothing to gain from it, and Microsoft in their wisdom recognized their value and wanted a program that aknowledges that and to give them a reason to continue contributing to their community.  Awesome.  Who doesn’t think that’s a good thing?  In fact it’s a damned noble thing and I applaud them for it.  That former statement however, and the title of the award, conjure up a completely different meaning in the eyes of myself and my clients.  All of a sudden these are “technology professionals” who specialize in Microsoft technologies and have been “recognized by Microsoft” as the “best of the best”.  That would certainly mean something to me if I was hiring a consultant, wouldn’t it you?  And yet that’s ridiculous, it’s a subjective program for all of the good reasons mentioned earlier.  It’s not inclusive.  It has no set structure for providing consumer confidence.  For example, as a business I can register as a partner, and pass employee testing, client references, and criteria to make my way up a hierarchy.  As an individual I can learn the necessary material, get the experience, and pass the tests to become a MCSE.  No bias involved (well, unless you consider cash a bias), and the playing field is level.  Should partners and certified professionals have to compete with MVP’s?  And trust me, the client certainly found a “Microsoft MVP” description much more impressive than the generic “Partner” titles.  He thought that the MVP must definitely be a higher level of skill or relationship where Microsoft was concerned.

Of course this was never an issue in my former business.  When your clients are companies like British Airways, Cisco Systems, or Wells Fargo you can bet your life that the term ‘Microsoft MVP’ come up in a meeting.  These were multi-million dollar projects and someone using the MVP term as a selling tool would have been laughed out of the room.  But now that my firms only focus is the Small to Medium Business sector that term seems to creep up more than ever, and frankly it’s becoming a problem.  In the past it was just something that appeared in group gatherings with other geeks who cared, or in the signature line of someones post online.  But now that it is starting to involve a potential impact to my wallet…..well, let’s just say that as fanatical as I am about Microsoft I’m even more fanatical about money :)

So what say you friends?  Do I push to get myself and my employees MVP status and leverage it even though I find the idea of doing so repugnant?  Do I instead waste my valuable face time in front of a potential client explaining what the program is and what it isn’t so that it doesn’t effect my chances of a sale (also repugnant)?

I’d love to hear your comments on this one as I certainly don’t have any great answers, and I get the feeling that there will be a lot of opinions.  To be clear before you start commenting, I’m not bashing MVP’s.  I just don’t want them competing with me and using that as some sort of measuring stick.  When people begin using the MVP title as a substitute for experience, well…..

The Bottom Line:  Is Microsoft at fault here?  I don’t think so.  When the program was started Microsoft, like all other software companies, was focused on Enterprise sales.  Did they envision terms like MVP becoming a problem for their partners sales efforts?  Nahhh. They will have to be involved in a solution though.  How about the guy pitching his MVP status in an inappropriate way to a potential client.  Maybe, but all is fair and love and sales right?  So how much can I fault him?  It’s not like we don’t use every advantage I can find to make a sale.  In other words, this is one of those issues in which I have a strong opinion but there isn’t necessarily a bad guy.  Should there be some program changes?  You bet.  It just won’t happen tomorrow.  Am I being reactionary because someone messed with my wallet?  You bet.  Chalk it up to just another one of the pains that companies like Microsoft have to struggle with in reforming their organization and products to better target the SMB customer and their partners who sell to them.

Matt Ridings
President
MSR Consulting

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