Why I Don't Write About Generic IT Security (And What I'm Actually Thinking About Instead)

Here's something that doesn't usually make it into a blog post: the ideas that got rejected.

I came across an HP article on securing your home network for remote work in 2026. Solid topic on the surface — VPNs, network segmentation, endpoint protection, the usual. And yes, I work remotely. I'm actively building toward a lifestyle where Panama is a base and US contracts are the revenue source. Network security is something I think about.

But I'm not going to write that post.

Why Some Topics Don't Make the Cut

I keep a loose scoring system for content ideas. It's not formal, but it comes down to two questions:

Does this topic serve the people I'm trying to reach — SAP EWM practitioners, supply chain architects, technical consultants making the jump to remote work?
Does it build something: a useful reference, a real insight, a concrete skill?

Generic home network security content fails both. Not because the information is wrong — it isn't — but because it's already everywhere, and I'd be adding nothing. If you want to know whether to use WPA3 or how to set up a guest VLAN for your work laptop, HP's article covers it. It's competent. Go read it.

What I'm not interested in doing is repackaging someone else's checklist with my name on it.

What "Building in Public" Actually Means for Content Decisions

I've been building markus-mildner.com partly as a technical project and partly as a discipline exercise. The discipline part is deciding what belongs there.

Building in public doesn't mean publishing every thought. It means being transparent about the process — including the dead ends.

So when I scored this topic and it came out below the threshold I've set for myself, the more interesting move was to explain why, rather than either writing the generic post or quietly skipping it.

Here's what that scoring looks like in practice:

SAP/EWM relevance: Does this connect to warehouse management, supply chain, or the technical work I actually do? The HP article scores zero here.
Remote work angle: Is there a genuine intersection with the lifestyle I'm building — Panama base, US contracts, LATAM context? Loosely yes, but not specifically enough to add value.
Practitioner usefulness: Would an SAP consultant doing a remote EWM rollout get something concrete from this? No.
Build-in-public transparency: Does writing this teach something about how I'm developing the platform? Only if I'm honest about the rejection — which is what this post is.

The Intersection I'm Actually Looking For

The security topic isn't worthless to me — it's just not ready to be a post yet. What I'm more interested in is the specific version of this question that applies to remote SAP consulting:

How do you handle VPN access to a client's SAP landscape when you're working from a co-working space in Panama City?
What does a client's IT security team actually ask for before they provision remote access to a production system?
What's the difference between connecting to an S/4HANA system over SAP GUI vs. accessing a Fiori launchpad through a browser, from a network security perspective?

Those questions come from real situations. I haven't written them up yet because I haven't nailed down the answers clearly enough to be useful. When I do, they'll be worth reading — or at least worth the argument.

What This Post Is Actually About

If you've read this far, you've probably figured out that this isn't really about home networks.

It's about being deliberate with content when you're building something from scratch. Every post I put on this platform either builds a useful reference, demonstrates something real about the work, or is honest about the gap between where I am and where I'm going.

Generic security listicles don't do any of that. So they don't make it through.

Key takeaways:

Rejecting a topic is a decision worth being transparent about — especially when building in public.
"Remote work" content only earns its place if it's specific enough to be useful to a particular person in a particular situation.
The more interesting version of a generic topic usually lives one or two questions deeper than the surface article.

If you're an SAP consultant thinking about the practical side of remote work — not the motivational version, but the actual logistics — I'd be curious what questions you're running into. Drop a comment or find me at markus-mildner.com.