Today we got through a lot!
We got started a wee bit late after a minor communication issue between the meeting facilitator (I promised David I wouldn’t tell you it was him) and the hotel staff found him stranded at the hotel a little longer than planned. Once he was rescued and safely with the rest of us at the Dynamics Communities Tampa office, we were called to order and we dug in.
In order to review as many questions as we could, we split into 2 groups today. This had the added benefit of ensuring we were each exposed to only half of the submitted questions. Basically, as part of group B, I will only ever be eligible to write the exam(s) that will be created by group A. Likewise, the group A committee members will only ever be allowed to sit for exams written by group B. We weren’t measured or anything, but I am pretty sure Bob, Mike, Brian, and I came up with the better questions.
Again the conversations were extremely thoughtful, and the knowledge of product was probably the deepest I have ever experienced at one time. While I obviously can’t get into too many details, I can say that there were a lot of great conversations throughout the day that I am really proud to have been a part of.
We ordered in lunch and ate as a group. As you can see in this photo, the office has a little “working lunch” area in the back of the warehouse which Mike and Bob found a moment to take advantage of.
Towards the end of the day we reconvened as a group, tired but extremely satisfied with the work that had been done. After some discussion, the committee selected a chair and vice chair. The idea is that the chair will serve a 1 year term, and that the vice chair will then take over for the next 1 year term. When the vice chair takes over as chair, a new vice chair will be selected by the committee.
The first official chair of the GP Exam committee is Mike McDowell, and I am very happy to have been selected as the first vice chair. Mike and I actually ended up on the same flight out of Tampa today, but the picture to the right is proof that we both made it to Atlanta, where we went our separate ways – no need for a second vote yet!
We then quickly went through the process of planning next steps. Online meetings will be held as early as Tuesday this week to continue the work.
The goal is to run the beta version of both exams started this weekend on the day before reimagine, happening in Fargo in September. If you are planning to attend reimagine, please also plan to come down a day early and be part of the first group ever to write a Dynamics Pro exam! You can register as part of the reImagine registration process here. Because this is a beta, we would love to have as many people write the exam – and provide us their feedback – as possible. The performance of the exams themselves will be measured, and questions will be revised or replaced as required. The exams will then be offered for the second time as part of GPUG Summit in October.
Another area where we are seeking your help is in the actual writing of questions. Frankly, although there is a high level of knowledge and eagerness on the committee, there is a still crazy amount of work to do. I mentioned that a beta was to be released before reimagine, right? The real goal is 2 versions of the exam, with a possible practice exam as well. That’s a lot of questions! To find out more about how you can contribute to the exam writing process and have a hand in bringing a much higher level of credibility to our industry, please visit the Dynamics Pro website.
By the way, since “the Association” is pretty vague (and it sounds a lot like a gangster movie title) and “The Association for Dynamics Professionals” basically wouldn’t allow many additional characters in your tweets, please watch for and use the #DynamicsPro hashtag in the future. Please also watch for an official Twitter handle, and a new website complete with membership guide, to be shared some time soon.