Certified Technical Architect

29.6.202229.6.2022 • Salesforce • 0

It is over. Finally. And I already kind of regret it as it was such a great ride.

Six years ago, during my job interview, I said I don’t want the title, because it takes so much energy and time to get it. Two years ago I attended the 601 training as a first step to become a CTA. And almost nine months later I failed for the first time. I still remember how grateful I was for the failure, because it was so easy to solve the scenario, to do the presentation, to answer the questions. If it is that easy why people fail, right?

I also remember the question I got after – how do you plan to prepare for retake? I had no clue. Had the feeling I know all the technical stuff (and it is called technical architect, right?) and I just need to work on the presentation part. But with no set date for the retake I wasn’t willing to invest the time.

So 2021 went by and I didn’t do much. I was surprised how much I remember, I just was a bit rusty with my presentation A lot of delays everywhere, no one convinced I’m ready for retake, summer period, you name it.

After all I cleared the 602 and expected to sit the board in three months time, so time for some studies. But for some weird reason it took time again. Finally I’ve been told about February date, which was quickly taken away from me (oh sorry, mistake on our side) to get it back two weeks later (sorry to see you go Martin).

How to learn for retake

So I had less than two months for final preparation. Routine I needed – solve scenario, present either to myself, to judges (internal or external) or watch recording of someone else presenting and answering the same scenario. Along the way learn the things I’ve been missing.

I saw a few great presentations, still have no clue how Melissa is able to put so many details in her presentation and still be on time. I observed how people got way better – the jump in James‘ performance when he watch his presentation over a few months is astonishing.

And I semi-failed second time. The scenario was absolutely crazy, never saw anything like that. But also – mainly based on QA – I realised that some points we probably shouldn’t take literaly. I had the „hide and seek“ feeling after we wrap-up as you have no clue where the questions lead and what the judges want to hear. It was so obvious to me that I failed and I wasn’t sure I want to repeat the experience.

Why they call it Technical Architect while the technical knowledge is just small part of the exam? You can learn it in a few months (and Johann confirm it as well), but to pass you need to be strong in the „softer“ areas as well – how to present, how to handle questions and objections, project management, governance and all these kind of things. Melissa covered it perfectly. And when we spoke with Martins‘ and Svata (in Czech only) Martin said it clearly to me – as a CTA you will speak with C-level people and you need to be able to handle it. That’s what CTA is about.

But then results came and I had two sections retake – Security and Development Lifecycle. That’s a must to do it, no way I’ll not sit the board again. And I had to wait, the CTA Summit had priority, delays and delays, which was great, because I had time for the CzechDreamin and not much else.

Two section retake

Middle of June and I sit the board for the third time, but this time it was completely different. Normally you have three hours (+ 30 minutes for non-native speaker) for preparation, with two section retake you have just 90 minutes (+ 5 minutes extra) for the same scenario, where you focus just on sections you retake. But when you need to retake security it means you need to cover licences, data model, you need to have a vision how you will technically solve every requirement. And Development Lifecycle (plus governance) is the same – where are all the risks we need to cover?

For normal board you have 45 minutes for presentation, where you need to present everything, for section retake you have 30 minutes where you cover just what you need to cover. Plenty of time, you can slow done, but you still need to hit the time as precisely as possible. Tricky, completely different preparation, completely different presentation style.

After the board I’ve been wasted. I feel I handled the QA better, I asked what they want to hear, I asked whether I cover their question.

A lot of oAuth flows questions and I realised how important consistency is. Till that moment whenever I thought about CI/CD I usually thought about Azure DevOps, as I have the most real life experience with that. This time it looks better to go with Copado for a few reasons. And it kicked back when we got to the question of oAuth flow the CI/CD will use as I didn’t realised I use a different tool this time, which uses different flow and I got lost. Not the perfect final question for my board.

Waiting, again. Do I have enough? Did I pass? Will I do it again? No way! I have enough.

The end

The results came in and it was relief. I passed.

It was sad as well, I won’t have the opportunity to be challenged in this way anymore. It is so great experience, on a project you spent weeks with discovery, then plenty of sessions where you present your solution. Rarely challenging questions because you are the expert. During the board you have everything served, you have quiet time to solve it, present and answer questions, you are challenged and have a feeling you achieved something even though you fail.

But than I got an email that my board is scheduled, again. Hi, what’s going on was my question, the answer was sorry, just some cleaning on our side, but you can always take the board just for fun. And I’m like – ok, I’m in, how much do you charge? It is exhilirating and I would do it any time again. But I don’t have to. Such a great feeling.

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Cirkadiánní kód, Satchin Panda

21.6.202220.6.2022 • Nezařaditelné • 0

Ta kniha je tak jednoduchá až se jí nechce věřit. Opravdu vše závisí jenom na správném čase a dostatečně dlouhých pauzách a všechny neduhy odejdou?

Pokud se ale tyto denní rytmy naruší, byť i jen na den či dva dny, naše hodiny nemohou těmto genům posílat ty správné zprávy. … Trvá-li takové narušení několik dní, týdnů či měsíců, může se u nás projevit celá řada infekcí a chorob, od nespavosti po poruchu pozornosti s hyperaktivitou (ADHD), depresi, úzkost, migrény, cukrovku, obezitu, kardiovaskulární choroby, demenci či dokonce rakovinu.

Tak tomu říkám motivace to zkusit na vlastní kůži i když nemám pocit, že bych něčím z toho trpěl. Nebo netrpím, protože tak nějak přirozeně jsem v tom správném cyklu v podstatě zajetý?

cirkadiánní hodiny interagují s časem světla a potravy, vytvářejí denní rytmy;
když strávíme většinu dne uvnitř budovy, tlumené světlo v interiéru nedokáže dostatečně aktivovat melanopsin, takže se hodiny nenaladí, jsme ospalí a méně bdělí;
nejsou žádné sovy nebo raní ptáčata;
pokud se snažíte dítě udržet vzhůru po deváté či desáté hodině večerní zaděláváte mu na ADHD nebo PAS;
cirkadiánním hodinám trvá téměř celý den než se přizpůsobí jedné hodině časové změny při cestování;
probdělá noc dokáže ovlivnit kognitivní funkce na celý týden;
staří lidé nesmí méně, protože víc spát nepotřebují, ale protože se snadněji probudí a už neusnou. Kdyby spali déle, byli by na tom zdravotně lépe.

Mazec, člověk skoro přemýšlí, zda se mu chce cestovat. Do toho přemýšlení co je vlastně správně – ložnice se zatemňovacími závěsy eliminují ranní světelné signály k probuzení versus doporučení pořádně zatáhnout závěsy, aby nás v noci nerušilo světlo. Mám nějak automatizovat jejich roztahování?

Do toho se prý můžeme vyprdnout na všechny diety, paleo stravu a další věci, abychom zhubnuli, a můžeme jít skoro co chceme, jenom dávat pozor aby od prvního do poslední sousta uplynulo maximálně 12 hodin, když to stáhneme po osm tak se prý těm pozitivním účinkům nebudeme stíhat divit. Zdravotní přínosy tohoto režimu jsou prý významnější než účinky léků.

No jo, ale mě ta sklenka vína večer celkem vyhovuje, mám si nalít už k odpolednímu vyřizování emailů?

Slunce, slunce, slunce. Denně na něm být minimálně hodinu, doma ať svítíte jak svítíte nikdy to není dost. Lepší pracovat u velkého okna než někde uvnitř místnosti. Sluneční brýle vám množství světla opět omezí – sundejte je. A UV zářením se netrapte.

Nechte se operovat raději odpoledne než ráno. Respektive ráno j doktor čilejší, což je podle všeho lepší na výsledek, odpolední operace se zase lépe hojí. Tak ho přesvědčete ať si přispí a operuje až odpoledne. Nebo věřte robotům a nechejte se operovat z jiné časové zóny. Po operaci spěte, JIPka je to nejhorší místo na přežití, protože tam je hluk a pořád se svítí – špunty, maska na oči a doufejte, že přežijete. To vlastně nezní moc optimisticky.

Tak knížka je doslova a do písmene překvapující. Opravdu stačí zkrátit dobu mezi prvním a posledním soustem (což pro mě není takový problém), být víc na denním světle (což bych rád) a jsem chráněn proti většině chorob? Bylo by to zlaté. A když o tom tak přemýšlím, tak většina z těch věcí není těžká na zavedení, tak proč to nezkusit.

Díky Jan Melvil za myšlenky, jdu do toho. A ty kup knížku a zkus to také.

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Salesforce v Česku s Anodius

14.6.202229.5.2022 • Podcast • 0

Anodius, firma která je rozkročená napříč různými platformami a pro mě překvapivě nechává i své lidi mezi nimi relativně volně přeskakovat. Firma, která má pro zaměstnance připravený „manuál“ jak se u nich dá postupovat po kariérním žebříčku a přitom to není ještě korporace. S Lukášem jsme naťukli i další věci, které mě u nich pozitivně překvapily.

Zápisky

rozhodli se pustit do konzultingu, začali v energetice, chtěli propojovat efektivně svět zaměstnanců, zákazníků a technologie;
nejdřív SAP, postupně se začali víc orientovat na Salesforce;
v Sales, Service, Experience, Pardot se cítí doma, občas dělají i něco dalšího a chtějí toho pokrývat víc;
na začátku je překvapila fluktuace lidí, dneska už je to dobré. Mají strukturovaný plán rozvoje lidí, aby věděli co musí udělat pro svůj profesní posun. Fotbálek mají také, ale zajímavé projekty asi hrají větší roli, stejně jako minimum byrokracie;
rok je málo v jedné firmě, to se člověk možná tak rozkouká, ale nemá šanci se pořádně posunout – za mě absolutní souhlas;
množství vzdělávacích cest a platforem, které Salesforce poskytuje, fantasticky pomáhá s rozvojem lidí;
historicky se nejvíc osvědčili junioři, kteří nejsou svázaní zvyky, ale mají otevřenou mysl a mají velký tah na branku;
jsou schopni pomoci i se strategií, dělali implementace i čistě podle toho, jak by si to udělali pro sebe, a měly u zákazníků úspěch;
zvláště vývojáři jsou napříč technologiemi a nejsou jenom SF zaměřeni;
20 % času chtějí, aby člověk měl na vzdělávání, konference, ale vždy se to nedaří;
LinkedIn funguje na získávání lidí nejlépe, stejně jako zaujmout studenty už na školách, jobs už jsou asi za zenitem;
snaží se standardizovat věci, popisovat co přesně zákazník dostane i nedostane, připravit implementační balíček, který jsou schopni rychle a snadno zavést.

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Salesforce Certified Strategy Designer

13.6.20226.6.2022 • Salesforce • 0

Strategy Designer is the new certification by Salesforce, which looks like something everyone in my social bubble is doing at the moment. The situation is similar to the UX Designer certification, obviously because the target group is pretty much the same.

Why I feel a lot of people wants to do it? It looks like an easy exam, not the deep architect stuff, it isn’t about another cloud you might not use and – finally but most importantly – this exam should be valid for everyone as it should help with every single instance.

While the UX Designer cared about the user experience, contrasts, font size and other things related to the accessibility, Strategy Designer is – to me – more about project and product management (I can hear you folks how you hate that I kind of connected project and product managers into one position).

It will ask you how to handle client’s objections, when to say yes and when to say no, how to start a new project, how to stop scope creap, what other roles you should have on a project, how to create a vision, how and when to prototype and a lot of other things.

To me this is the certification you want to take when you want to know more how to successfully run an (not just) IT project. Take the Trailmix and give it a try!

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Summer ’22 Release Notes

6.6.20222.6.2022 • Salesforce • 0

Another release around the corner and while I completely skipped the Spring release due to extra workload (and failed CTA board) I did find time for the Summer release which will hit our instances in a few days.

Here are the things I found interesting:

custom address field – it took just around 15 years to get this type of field (in beta) which should mimic the functionality of the similar fields on account, lead and account. Fancy adding such field to other object? Now you can;
Einstein Seach Manager looks super cool – so far I couldn’t really explain to clients which fields are searchable besides the general rules, now you can see per object and field basis.

they renamed the Search Layouts to List View Button Layout. Not sure it is better naming, but lets see;
report type details when creating a new report looks pretty cool – how many times I chose the wrong report type just to have to redo everything. Plus you can finally hide report types as you could in Classic. And row limit is in Lightning finally as well;

Create Reports Based on Selected Salesforce Objects (Beta) – I didn’t get this one at all, have a feeling the objects are always in the name but there are probably some exceptions;
median as a summary function in report – finally, some customers understand the difference between average and median and have been asking about this one;
Control Access to External Object Records with Restriction Rules – so far External Objects didn’t support row level sharing, the restriction rules goes the other way around but should provide the same result at the end. Super excited about this one even though none of my customers will use it;
possibility to delete/deactivate multiple picklist values at once – that’s small but important win, so far you always had to wait for a few minutes before deactivating each value, now it will speed up your work. Plus info when adding multiple values which one of them is the duplicate, another big win for me;
no need to specify related lists on page layout and then add them to Lightning Page anymore and also ability to include the same object several times with different filters and fields. This sounds just awesome (didn’t test it yet);
user mode database operations in APEX looks like a step in right direction and also to simplify developers‘ life. Or maybe not?
travel modes in FSL sounds promising as well to better calculate the travel time.
use formula for entry conditions – so far I had to use formula field, it is over now;
sections headers on screens for better UI;
test for flows (beta);
milestones are automatically stopped if the records exit the entitlement process, no need to do it manually anymore.

Obviously there are plenty more, but just those above really catch my attention. Is it good or is it bad? Do the improvements of the platform slow down because it is so good and there is not much to improve or is it spread across so many clouds that for the „core“ there isn’t enough capacity for future development? Who knows, but the times when I was excited by each page of release notes are, sadly, over 🙁

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