Meet Community MVP...
Robert Fedoruk
Hello Robert! So tell us a little on how you got started in your career and when was ServiceNow introduced to you?
In the past, I lead a shallow, uninspired life as an admin for HP OpenView ServiceDesk. We googled “what’s better than OVSD” and ServiceNow was the top link. 30 minutes later we were on a sales call. 1 hour later we were building on a demo instance. 6 weeks later ITSM & Service Catalog were fully deployed. Procurement to deployment took less than JUST the workshops to deploy HP.
What do you do now? What is your favorite part of using the ServiceNow?
I am the Chief Experience Officer at VividCharts, an elite ServiceNow technology partner. We’re a visualization and report experience platform built in and with ServiceNow. I am also the founder of Duke Digital Media, bringing an insider’s perspective on partners, applications, and personalities in the ServiceNow space.
How did your career evolve?
I keep saying “don’t try to do it my way”. I’m what happens when you practice 1 or 2 extra hours a day for 12 years. *THOUSANDS* of hours. I’ve also been fearless in trying many different things: admin, product owner, independent consultant, entrepreneur, services partner, tech partner.
I’ve been part of the Community before there was an official community. Participated in the back-channel discussions on the old wiki before they even had the pre-community forum.
You're very generous with your time. What inspired you to start answering in addition to asking?
At the start, everyone used community (and its predecessors) from necessity. Soon it was just habit to open and check throughout the day. Over time, one posts more answers than questions.
How do you work the community into your day?
Beginning of the day I’d log in and check for responses on my threads. Then I’d read the latest threads to see if I could learn or answer something. All those “filler periods’ during a day I’d go back to community to read &/or answer.
Where do you spend your time in the community?
Daily community ritual is to read the unreplied, then the unanswered threads on the front page. I look for threads I can contribute to. I’ll do this about 3 times a day depending on the week.
How else do you participate?
Rather than blog, I have a Youtube site (Duke Digital Media), as well as a mailing list. Both have over 1000 subscribers. I also have a Podcast called CJ & The Duke discussing ServiceNow success and architecture.
What would you say to encourage your peers to participate more?
Experts and masters lose the feeling of how hard it is to piece things together when you have too few pieces. Contributing to someone else’s learning makes your expertise and mastery even greater.
Any other advice to share with those just starting on their journey with ServiceNow?
Don’t look for shortcuts. Stop worrying about exams and exam dumps. Put in the work. Build stuff. For the love of God, FAIL AND LEARN. Every moment spent waiting for the right exam dump or book to read is time you could have spent building and learning. Get a mentor.
Do you have any stand-out / memorable experiences with ServiceNow?
Too many to count. My first major project where we built onboarding and offboarding in Catalog and included non-IT functions. Completely revolutionized operations for a global media brand to the point the executives couldn’t’ figure out where all the good will was coming from.
Rebuilding a horrifically over customized instance where IT was only 25% of total transactions. Rebuilding dozens of custom apps, including CSM before ServiceNow had CSM. All on time and under budget with *EXACTLY ZERO* downtime.
Is there a specific product and/or feature that you just can't believe you ever lived without?
Performance Analytics is the unsung hero of ServiceNow. There’s no way anyone should be doing anything on ServiceNow without Performance Analytics. It’s the means by way the proof gets put in the pudding.
Do you have a favorite piece of content on the community?
My indexed MegaThread of all my best work.
Any other interesting tidbits, stories, hobbies you'd like to share?
I make soap.
Thank you, Robert!
