Hey all again!
Busy day out there today! Quick shout out to the ! flying solo ! group. Good success and hopefully I'll be meeting with some more of you guys in a few hours before the Gala!
Started out the day by meeting fellow "Flying Solo" group member Aoife for breakfast before making our way over to the keynote. Glad we left when we did; although not a straight on shot of the stage, we had a good profile view and plenty of monitors.
The keynote was great; speakers included Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, and Kraig Swensrud of Salesforce. Guest speakers were Tim Campos, CIO of Facebook, and Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry. Also in attendance, Neil Young and MC Hammer.
Big things are happening for Chatter. IM and screen sharing internal to your org and public groups and meetings with your clients. Quick easy invites to the client gives access to these public groups. This left me with one good question... can it be branded or are we stuck with Salesforce branding?
Another cool concept that was discussed was touch.salesforce.com. This was an iPad app that handled Salesforce.com as an HTML5 app. They were pushing the write once, ready for many philosophies. Can't wait to start playing around with that. Imagine writing an app for the web, that also works on your iPad, Android tablets, and mobile phones, across any platform, all the same.
Service and support gets some new goodies too, aside from the Radian6 buyout, there is a cool new tool that allows Facetime, directly to clients from a case. Pretty sweet idea. Jigsaw has been merged with D&B and now called data.com. No telling if this is included with Salesforce, or still the pay for a premium version model we saw in the past few releases.
Check out the whole thing here: https://www.facebook.com/salesforce
Time for the Cloud Expo, Gala, and Metallica!!!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Day 2: Using Chatter to Transform Your Company
This was a great session that practiced what it preached. If learning about Chatter use cases wasn't enough, the presenters utilized the DF Dreamforce Chatter for this Session. Great!
Doing that introduced a nice way to discuss the presentation as it was going on with other audience members. At the end, some questions were read aloud and answered. I'm hoping all of the sessions are like this.
Like a lot of companies that got excited with a pilot of Chatter, we introduced it quickly without proper planning and the attention it deserves. We enabled it for everyone, tracked a bunch of fields on a bunch of objects, effectively creating too much "noise" to do our deployment much good.
An example given during the presentation was to think of Chatter as an old time radio with a tuner dial. You can have all static, some static, or a nice crystal clear signal. It's all about fine tuning for your audience. The record oriented updates didn't mean anything to our users because it was too much of the wrong stuff. For you it might be too many fields, the wrong fields, or the wrong org environment to follow these record "changes."
For my company, I believe Chatter can be an effective communication tool. It will come down to grouping and empowerment. I've disabled the Chatter updates for records within my org and will have a stronger focus on the next attempt. I'll create a basic set of department based groups and elect a leader. The leader will be the employee of the highest position within the company hierarchy. The tip I've heard the most is that adoption of Chatter increases as the higher ups become involved.
With departmental groups, I hope to foster intra-department specialization, increased shared knowledge, and open up communication between the employees in that group.
One challenge will be to establish guidelines of when to use the group and when to pick up the phone.
I'd also like to try an experiment where a group is created for specific projects. I would think that this would help my firm stay on track, be more organized, be more open, and ultimately increase awareness on expectations of those involved.
I'm also thinking that it might be good to have a group to let people teach people. "What do the more experienced users want to share with less experienced employees? HR should be able spread good news like promotions, group managers should be able to post departmental achievements, and more. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
I'll be sure to post more once I have a solidified plan going forward. Open questions after the session were:
1) How do my employees know of groups and hash tags?
2) Compliance related issues: SEC 17a-3 and 4.
3) Future of Chatter in workflow - auto create Chatter; auto-enroll employees into groups
4) Administratively add users to groups - no opt out
Doing that introduced a nice way to discuss the presentation as it was going on with other audience members. At the end, some questions were read aloud and answered. I'm hoping all of the sessions are like this.
Like a lot of companies that got excited with a pilot of Chatter, we introduced it quickly without proper planning and the attention it deserves. We enabled it for everyone, tracked a bunch of fields on a bunch of objects, effectively creating too much "noise" to do our deployment much good.
An example given during the presentation was to think of Chatter as an old time radio with a tuner dial. You can have all static, some static, or a nice crystal clear signal. It's all about fine tuning for your audience. The record oriented updates didn't mean anything to our users because it was too much of the wrong stuff. For you it might be too many fields, the wrong fields, or the wrong org environment to follow these record "changes."
For my company, I believe Chatter can be an effective communication tool. It will come down to grouping and empowerment. I've disabled the Chatter updates for records within my org and will have a stronger focus on the next attempt. I'll create a basic set of department based groups and elect a leader. The leader will be the employee of the highest position within the company hierarchy. The tip I've heard the most is that adoption of Chatter increases as the higher ups become involved.
With departmental groups, I hope to foster intra-department specialization, increased shared knowledge, and open up communication between the employees in that group.
One challenge will be to establish guidelines of when to use the group and when to pick up the phone.
I'd also like to try an experiment where a group is created for specific projects. I would think that this would help my firm stay on track, be more organized, be more open, and ultimately increase awareness on expectations of those involved.
I'm also thinking that it might be good to have a group to let people teach people. "What do the more experienced users want to share with less experienced employees? HR should be able spread good news like promotions, group managers should be able to post departmental achievements, and more. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
I'll be sure to post more once I have a solidified plan going forward. Open questions after the session were:
1) How do my employees know of groups and hash tags?
2) Compliance related issues: SEC 17a-3 and 4.
3) Future of Chatter in workflow - auto create Chatter; auto-enroll employees into groups
4) Administratively add users to groups - no opt out
Day 2: Exam, n00bs, and Chatter
"Interesting" is probably the best way to describe today. Waking up, I was clear and focused. Then my contact ripped into two while in my eye. Delightful.
I left early and I'm glad I did so that I was able to catch the Community Conference Keynote. Congratulations to all of the newly titled Salesforce MVPs; I hope to join your elite ranks some day. I skipped over breakfast in hopes of finding somewhere inexpensive after yesterday's buffet price shock. I did find a granola bar, banana, OJ, and some coffee.
I was able to slide in some studying time while in the exam check-in line. Maybe I should have got in that line a little bit earlier. I met another guy who had taken the same exam three times without passing; needless to say my optimism skyrocketed.
Unfortunately, I didn't pass, but I've got a much better idea of what is on the exam than what is located here: http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/misc/SG_CertifiedADVDeveloper.pdf
Things that come to mind that I want to check on:
When to system validation rules occur?
Does only the administrator have the ability to execute Anonymous Blocks?
Are Anonymous Blocks executed as the system user or current user?
, including expected parameters
Correct environments to do certain things: config only, developer, and full sandboxes, developer edition
Advantages of managed packages and ANT deployment
I'll try to add more as I think of them.
Anyway, after that little bit (a limited bit of disappointment of course, I'm at Dreamforce. I've never not passed a cert exam before, but then again every other one came with failure making my wallet lighter. I'd rather fail for free than fail for $400.
Next, I quickly grabbed lunch at the "Cloud Dine" and made my way over to the Mascone South for the "New to Dreamforce" session. To the disappointment of more than 100 pre-registered people at the door, they were booked past capacity. Rumors are flooding the Chatter feeds that they didn't scan passes. Major disappointment there.
I ran back to the hotel to grab my laptop and check in with work then quickly left to be early for my next session, "Using Chatter to Transform Your Business" where I'm currently at. To be continued!
I left early and I'm glad I did so that I was able to catch the Community Conference Keynote. Congratulations to all of the newly titled Salesforce MVPs; I hope to join your elite ranks some day. I skipped over breakfast in hopes of finding somewhere inexpensive after yesterday's buffet price shock. I did find a granola bar, banana, OJ, and some coffee.
I was able to slide in some studying time while in the exam check-in line. Maybe I should have got in that line a little bit earlier. I met another guy who had taken the same exam three times without passing; needless to say my optimism skyrocketed.
Unfortunately, I didn't pass, but I've got a much better idea of what is on the exam than what is located here: http://www.salesforce.com/assets/pdf/misc/SG_CertifiedADVDeveloper.pdf
Things that come to mind that I want to check on:
When to system validation rules occur?
Does only the administrator have the ability to execute Anonymous Blocks?
Are Anonymous Blocks executed as the system user or current user?
Correct environments to do certain things: config only, developer, and full sandboxes, developer edition
Advantages of managed packages and ANT deployment
I'll try to add more as I think of them.
Anyway, after that little bit (a limited bit of disappointment of course, I'm at Dreamforce. I've never not passed a cert exam before, but then again every other one came with failure making my wallet lighter. I'd rather fail for free than fail for $400.
Next, I quickly grabbed lunch at the "Cloud Dine" and made my way over to the Mascone South for the "New to Dreamforce" session. To the disappointment of more than 100 pre-registered people at the door, they were booked past capacity. Rumors are flooding the Chatter feeds that they didn't scan passes. Major disappointment there.
I ran back to the hotel to grab my laptop and check in with work then quickly left to be early for my next session, "Using Chatter to Transform Your Business" where I'm currently at. To be continued!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Day 1: Getting Started with Customer User Interfaces
Morning came too soon this AM. I got my groggy self together and fed before making my way to the Moscone Center. Registration was quick and easy; according to my badge Professional Capital Services, LLC is a proud sponsor of Dreamforce '11!
Side story: During registration I received an interesting call. Guess who's the apprentice of a former Mr. Olympia? Just an example of how my tech skills are opening doors!
Currently, I'm seated in the Moscone West for my pre-Dreamforce training. We're discussing the basics of the visual aspects of Salesforce. In the back of my mind; tension is building as that exam is looming tomorrow. This session will be a good review of some of the Visualforce side of the exam. This session is led by Peter Chittum who has been VERY responsive to my questions within the Dreamforce app.
Topics discussed:
Pieces of SF considered layout
Differences between page layouts and VF pages
Enabling "Development Mode"
Using the "Component Reference" documentation
Using the inline editor
***Whew... thank you Blogger auto-save - just accidentally closed this window and came back to it to find a saved draft.
Standard Controllers and Actions
Visualforce and Custom tags, namespaces, and attributes
Traversing relationships (up and down)
Databinding
Using other Web Technologies (CSS, Javascript, Flash)
Displaying multiple records/parts of records on a single page
Overriding Buttons
The Page Block Table
Overriding "Edit" Pages
Mass editing list views
Creating VF Templates
...and much much more.
Unfortunately time ran out before the end of the material. We got to Module 5 at a slow/normal pace for the crowd, 5 through 7 were expedited with the exercises joined. Skipped over Module 8: Survey of Additional Visualforce Topics (whomp, whommmmp) altogether and launched into an accelerated talk about Visual Workflow. We then skipped over all the new exciting stuff going on in Siteforce. The week is young, hopefully this isn't the last time I hear of this "Siteforce."
All in all it was a great refresher for the VF side of tomorrow's exam!
Onwards and upwards!
Side story: During registration I received an interesting call. Guess who's the apprentice of a former Mr. Olympia? Just an example of how my tech skills are opening doors!
Currently, I'm seated in the Moscone West for my pre-Dreamforce training. We're discussing the basics of the visual aspects of Salesforce. In the back of my mind; tension is building as that exam is looming tomorrow. This session will be a good review of some of the Visualforce side of the exam. This session is led by Peter Chittum who has been VERY responsive to my questions within the Dreamforce app.
Topics discussed:
Pieces of SF considered layout
Differences between page layouts and VF pages
Enabling "Development Mode"
Using the "Component Reference" documentation
Using the inline editor
***Whew... thank you Blogger auto-save - just accidentally closed this window and came back to it to find a saved draft.
Standard Controllers and Actions
Visualforce and Custom tags, namespaces, and attributes
Traversing relationships (up and down)
Databinding
Using other Web Technologies (CSS, Javascript, Flash)
Displaying multiple records/parts of records on a single page
Overriding Buttons
The Page Block Table
Overriding "Edit" Pages
Mass editing list views
Creating VF Templates
...and much much more.
Unfortunately time ran out before the end of the material. We got to Module 5 at a slow/normal pace for the crowd, 5 through 7 were expedited with the exercises joined. Skipped over Module 8: Survey of Additional Visualforce Topics (whomp, whommmmp) altogether and launched into an accelerated talk about Visual Workflow. We then skipped over all the new exciting stuff going on in Siteforce. The week is young, hopefully this isn't the last time I hear of this "Siteforce."
All in all it was a great refresher for the VF side of tomorrow's exam!
Onwards and upwards!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Almost Here and Almost There
I'm currently sitting in the San Diego airport, waiting for my flight to Los Angeles to get me to San Francisco, recapping my sessions with Frank Zane, and wondering what the next week will bring.
I had a great pump at Zane's home gym yesterday day, both physical and mental. I've got a few changes to implement in my diet and routine, but looks like I'm on schedule with competing in next year's Mr. Natural Philadelphia contest. I'd like to see how many other Salesforcerers can say that!
San Diego was amazing for the three days I was there. I rented a car to get around and doing so was a breeze. Couldn't ask for better weather either; warm and sunny without the humidity. Everything was radically different from the City of Brotherly hate and filth (aka the #1 most toxic city in 2011: Source).
Now San Francisco, I'm not sure what to expect. More hills, unpredictable weather, a larger down town. That's about all I've got.
My plans as of now, fly out of San Diego at 5:40 to arrive before 7 in Los Angeles, then around 8:30 fly the rest of the way to San Francisco. Once I touch down, I'll track down my luggage and then figure out BART for a short train ride to Powell St. Station.
For now though, the Advanced Developer's exam isn't going to study itself. Tuesday's coming awfully fast!
I had a great pump at Zane's home gym yesterday day, both physical and mental. I've got a few changes to implement in my diet and routine, but looks like I'm on schedule with competing in next year's Mr. Natural Philadelphia contest. I'd like to see how many other Salesforcerers can say that!
San Diego was amazing for the three days I was there. I rented a car to get around and doing so was a breeze. Couldn't ask for better weather either; warm and sunny without the humidity. Everything was radically different from the City of Brotherly hate and filth (aka the #1 most toxic city in 2011: Source).
Now San Francisco, I'm not sure what to expect. More hills, unpredictable weather, a larger down town. That's about all I've got.
My plans as of now, fly out of San Diego at 5:40 to arrive before 7 in Los Angeles, then around 8:30 fly the rest of the way to San Francisco. Once I touch down, I'll track down my luggage and then figure out BART for a short train ride to Powell St. Station.
For now though, the Advanced Developer's exam isn't going to study itself. Tuesday's coming awfully fast!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Metallica in 13!
I found this today. For a little more insight on how Metallica became this year's band, check this out: Metallica: San Francisco Show??
I'd take either as a neighbor!
I'd take either as a neighbor!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Dreamforce: T-Minus 28 Days!
Only 28 more days until Dreamforce '11. That means 24 more days until my two day training session with former Mr. Olympia Frank Zane, but that's for another blog. There's a lot of activity within the Dreamforce App, so I'll keep this short, but I did want to share my agenda for that week.
8/29
Getting Started w/ Custom user Interfaces
8/30
Advanced Developer Exam
New to Dreamforce
Using Chatter to Transform Your BUsiness
Apex Design Patterns and Best Practices
Data Visualization w/ Flex and AIR
Welcome Reception
8/31
Opening Keynote Session
Blazing Fast Visualforce Pages
Best Practices for Clean Data
Developing Application w/ jQuery
Visual Workflow Makes Business Process Automation Simple!
Dreamforce Global Gala feat. Metallica
9/1
Keynote Session
Platform State of the Union
Do Less and Get More w/ Dynamic and Filtered Dashboards
The New 360: Customer Intimacy Through the Service Cloud
Closing Keynote Session w/ Eric Schmidt
9/2
Hands-On: Force.com Pages (Visualforce) in Disguise for Developers (2.5 hr)
Putting Dreamforce to Work for You
8/29
Getting Started w/ Custom user Interfaces
8/30
Advanced Developer Exam
New to Dreamforce
Using Chatter to Transform Your BUsiness
Apex Design Patterns and Best Practices
Data Visualization w/ Flex and AIR
Welcome Reception
8/31
Opening Keynote Session
Blazing Fast Visualforce Pages
Best Practices for Clean Data
Developing Application w/ jQuery
Visual Workflow Makes Business Process Automation Simple!
Dreamforce Global Gala feat. Metallica
9/1
Keynote Session
Platform State of the Union
Do Less and Get More w/ Dynamic and Filtered Dashboards
The New 360: Customer Intimacy Through the Service Cloud
Closing Keynote Session w/ Eric Schmidt
9/2
Hands-On: Force.com Pages (Visualforce) in Disguise for Developers (2.5 hr)
Putting Dreamforce to Work for You
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