DevOps Diaries

Hayley Tuller is a United States Navy veteran, having served for 20 years as an Aircrewman, building deep technical knowledge and leadership expertise that has shaped an incredible Salesforce career transition. She is co-founder of Salesforce consultancy Navigators, is 12x Salesforce certified, and advocate for Veterans transitioning to tech supporting organizations like Trailhead Military and Merivis. Jack and Hayley talk about Hayley’s transition to Salesforce, focussing on the technical skills, learning methods, and leadership lessons that make veterans an asset to organizations and communities post-service. They discuss what civilian organizations should look for, and how they can make the most of the community of veterans out there transitioning to tech. Hayley also dives into some of the methods learnt in the military that have helped her become a successful Salesforce Consultant and Architect, including Operational Risk Management, a checklist mentality, and training for leadership, and how this applies to DevOps. Useful links:Salesforce Military: https://veterans.my.site.com Merivis: https://merivis.org/  HayleyTwitter: https://twitter.com/HayleyTuller LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleytuller/ Jackhttps://twitter.com/_jxckmcc https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/ 

Justin Edelstein has 17 years experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. He is one of the co-founders and now board member of Salesforce consultancy Arkus, is member of the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame, and has been a key figure in establishing Salesforce’s Web3 offering. In this episode Justin and Jack uncover what Web3 is and what the foundations of this emerging technology is, including a dive into what the blockchain and NFT’s are. Justin also shares his experience of guiding the development of Web3 Cloud with Salesforce, and how this technology has the potential to transform customer experiences. Web3 goes far beyond art and cryptocurrency. Justin gives his take on how to create mass appeal where consumers can leverage this emerging technology, and how Salesforce customers have started to use Web3 along with AI in a secure way to provide new customer experiences and brand partnerships.Useful Links:https://www.arkusinc.com/blog Justin Edelsteinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/justinedelstein  https://twitter.com/JustEdelstein Jackhttps://twitter.com/_jxckmcc https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/ 

Grant Mangum and Deepak Veera are Salesforce Consultants at consulting company, Cloud Giants. Between them they have 14 years’ consulting experience, and have spent the last 4 specializing in CPQ implementations. They bring to the table tangible real-world experience and understanding of the nuances of a product rising rapidly in popularity. In this episode we discover in-depth what CPQ is, and some of the challenges of working with it as part of your DevOps process. Jack, Grant, and Deepak chat about the particularities of building CPQ, ghost quotes, and the 3 key things that form the backbone of a great CPQ delivery process. Grant and Deepak also share their thoughts on the differences of working with config data vs. metadata, and how important it is to have a testing process that is robust to be successful. Listen to the end to find out their recommendations on where you can learn more about CPQ, as well as what makes Gearset’s CPQ product awesome. Useful LinksMilo Massimo: https://milomassimo.com Cloud Giants Ask an Expert: https://cloudgiants.com/ask-a-salesforce-expert Deepak Veerahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/deepakveera/ Grant Mangumhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-mangum-241554113 Jack McCurdyhttps://twitter.com/_jxckmcc https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/ 

Taylor Grimes is an Architect at Salesforce, managing partner success with an Architect’s lens. Taylor has spent 10 years in the Salesforce ecosystem managing implementations for end-user customers, as well as designing solutions as a consultant. She is passionate about staying on the leading edge of technology, and ensuring the community has a wealth of resources to support their professional learning journeys. In this episode Jack chats to Taylor about the fast-start to her career, and how Salesforce has played a pivotal role in transforming employee experiences with technology. Taylor shares how leaning into and understanding data can drive better decision making and improves a customer's relationship with a business. Taylor also shares her take on what’ll be important for the partner ecosystem over the rest of the year, where we should focus our investment, and the most helpful resources that Architects can use as a foundation of successful processes. No animals were harmed in the making of this episode!Useful LinksHelpful resources (Quip): https://grst.co/3VpzykPTaylorhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/salesforcetay/https://twitter.com/SalesforceTay Jackhttps://twitter.com/_jxckmcc https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/ 

Blanca Leon-Carter is a DevOps Architect and Principal Consultant at Slalom. Blanca has experience working with teams of all shapes and sizes with varying complexities of DevOps challenges. She is based in Chicago and is a Salesforce MVP, Golden Hoodie Recipient, Architect User Group Leader and advocate for diversity and women in tech.In this episode Jack chats with Blanca about her journey through the technology space, and how she came to be the pillar of the Salesforce ecosystem that she is — traversing the world of non-profit organizations, higher-education, and eventually consulting via RAD Women Code. Blanca also shares with us how she gives back to the community that she has benefited from and become invested in, and how the community revitalized her career.Blanca gives her take on some of the biggest findings from the State of Salesforce DevOps 2023 report. She predicts what we can expect from Salesforce DevOps and the wider ecosystem this year, as well as some of the challenges that Salesforce teams practicing DevOps are facing and how to overcome them. Useful Links:RAD Women Code: https://radwomen.org The State of Salesforce DevOps Report: https://grst.co/3od3uUR Blanca:https://twitter.com/blancavleonhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/bvleoncarter/ Jack:https://twitter.com/_jxckmcc https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/ 

Sam and Jack chat about the documentation that supports a great DevOps process. Tune in to hear about what documents you can add to support your delivery process, why good documentation is needed, and how you can keep documentation relevant in your orgs. Sam is a DevOps Architect at Gearset helping enterprise customers with their Salesforce delivery processes, and self-confessed PowerShell pro.Sam CrosslandTwitter: @crossland92LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelcrossland/Jack McCurdyTwitter: @_jxckmccLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/

Jack and Jodi talk about the ever evolving role of the Salesforce Admin. Tune in to hear about how an Admin can rock their role, question everything, deliver value, and pick the path that's right for you.Jodi is author of "Rock Your Role as a Salesforce Admin", a long-standing community member, and is a Senior Director for Salesforce Center of Excellence in her organization.Jodi HrbekTwitter: @jodihrbek LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodihrbek/Web: sfadminbook.comJack McCurdyTwitter: @_jxckmccLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/

Jack and Ben chat about the origins of Salesforce Ben, and how it's developed to be the media platform it is today. Tune in to hear Ben's predictions for the ecosystem in the coming year, the kind of content you can expect to see from the recently re-launched SFBen YouTube channel, and his thoughts on where the community should be focussing their learning. Ben McCarthy is the founder of Salesforce Ben, a non-exec director and strategy advisor, and an ex-Salesforce Consultant. Ben McCarthy Twitter: @SalesforceBenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salesforceben/Jack McCurdyTwitter: @_jxckmccLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/

Jack and Tracy (they/Tracy) talk about burnout in the workplace, what you can do to protect your mental health, and how you can make sure you continue to bring your best self to work. They also chat about working at NASA, self-reflection, and the support of the Salesforce community. Tracy has 20 years experience in software engineering with a background in computer science, and self-confessed Flownatic. Tracy GreeneLI: linkedin.com/in/tracy-erin-greene/ Twitter: @tracyeringreene Jack McCurdyLI: linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdyTwitter: @_jxckmcc

Ian and Jack talk about the functions of a Center of Excellence and how they contribute to successfully managing Salesforce implementations of all shapes and sizes. They chat about what they are, how to manage the CoE itself, and the benefits of having a set of standards to deliver business objectives. Ian is CEO and co-founder of change intelligence platform elements.cloud, and a long-standing member of the Salesforce Ecosystem with over two-decades experience managing enterprise applications. IanTwitter: @iangottsLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/iangotts/JackTwitter: @_jxckmccLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jack-mccurdy/