In part 1 I talked about the kinds of architectures you should considering when planning a Constituent portal. In part 2 I’ll give you some guidance about how to pick the right architecture for your project. Reminder of the Options Part 1 provides a detailed review of the directions that data can flow, and the types of architectures you can use to support your solution: Data can be outbound to constituents, provided by individual constituents, or exchanged among constituents. There are all-in-one solutions, two-system solutions, and solutions with an API or data proxy layer. Three patterns, three potential solutions: it’s temping to think they align 1:1 – but then a whole second article would have been a waste of time. But it is important to keep them in your mind as you determine the best-fit for your organization and use case(s). ...

My mom passed away just over a year ago. We went through Christmas without her last year for the first time, but there is still a different feel this year. One of the ways both my sister and I remember mom is through her baking. There were several classic cookies, and similar treats, she made every year. Neither of us makes the whole collection, but we both have settled into a couple favorites. ...

One of the common needs, or at least desires, for CRM users is to link their CRM to some kind of constituent portal. There are several ways you can architect a good data pattern for your constituent portal. The trick is picking the right one for your organization. This is the first in a series on what your choices are, and now to select the right one. The architecture you select will drive the implementation cost, maintenance costs, and scalability. ...

This is a second in a two part series on taking Salesforce Certification Exams. We’ll be talking here about taking the exam. You might also find part 1 on studying useful. For this discussion I’m assuming you have picked your exam, studied as best you can, and now it’s time to take the exam. Scheduling a Salesforce Exam In my article on studying I recommended scheduling your Salesforce exam a week or two after you had prepped your flash cards. Of course it’s not exactly that straight forward. You need to pick the location and timing that works to your best advantage. ...

Salesforce certification exams are a fact of life for many of us in the eco system. Whether you are a consultant who needs to add at least one a year or taking your first exam it’s important to have a plan for how you approach your next test. Getting through Salesforce Exams generally requires a mix of memorization, understanding key concepts, and good test taking skills. Currently I hold 13 Salesforce certifications and have survived 12 exams to get there (there are a couple two-for-ones to be had among the Architect exams) and I passed all but one on the first try. This is by no means makes me exceptional – my current manager holds somewhere between 35-40 certifications, I lost track a test or two ago – but it does mean I’ve taken enough to develop a routine that works pretty well. ...

Two years ago my sister’s oldest child went off to college. As a marker for that occasion I wrote up some thoughts on what I think college student’s should know. In a little while my sister’s youngest child is headed off to college as well; so I decided it’s time to write part two. Since my wife is a college professor, and I’m framing my understanding as being her husband, I need to be clear: these are my thoughts. They are not hers. They are not those of her colleagues, or any of our other friends who are college professors. Yes, my ideas are influenced by being friends with those folks, and I hope they agree with me. But in the end, this advice is mine. If you want advice from a college professor – well college students have easy access to those and should politely ask them directly. ...

My first few articles in this series have been focused on the messages we send to others – mostly our written messages. This time I am focusing on Listening as key skills when communicating with others. Listening is a skill. In general in our lives we are expected to know how to listen, even though most teaching is informal. If you aren’t listening to your colleagues and clients (friends, family, etc.), which can include reading carefully the materials they write, how can you communicate back to them clearly? And when they can tell you didn’t listen closely, why should they listen to you carefully? ...

One of the skills everyone needs to have is asking for help. Whether that’s in our work, our education, or our personal lives, we all need help from time to time. We are focused on work here, but this same basic rules apply in all aspects of our lives. The right time to ask for help is, like so many things, a balancing act. Struggling through a complex issue can be a great way to learn something new. But often we can short cut that learning by simply asking the right questions at the right time. ...

When I started this series on writing for developers and consultants, I thought of this piece first, but I couldn’t get the ideas to come together. Sometimes it takes a few tries. Anytime you write something, you should be aware of what kind of document you’re writing and who is it for. The definition of “document” in this context is very broad it could be: an email, letter, solution design, chat messages, blog post, test script, work of fiction, book, poem, presentation, marketing slide deck, scope of work, and so on: anything that involves writing words. ...

Earlier this month, at Mid Atlantic Dreamin’ in Philadelphia, I gave a talk titled Software Super Heroes: Building the tools you wish you had. My goal with the talk was to convince people that should, can, and in fact do, built tools for themselves. If you work with technology, and your job involves repetitive tasks the same applies to you too. What do I mean by “Tool” and “Tool builder’s mindset”? I like to use a very expansive definition of tool: “A tool is anything that makes a task easier which would be repetitive, hard, or impossible without it.” In that sense just about anything you make that simplifies you work can be considered a tool: a project estimation spread sheet, a good set of directions for a complex task, a flow for a Salesforce admin, a piece of code to normalize a large collection of files, and more. ...