Nonprofit Salesforce Users – you need to get to Dreamforce

Last Updated on Friday, 30 October 2009 11:28 Written by Steve Friday, 30 October 2009 11:28

Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users. Network value isn’t additive–it’s geometric.

Right now we’re at 115% of the number of registrants from last year. Following Metcalfe, and if Dreamforce was tomorrow, that means it would be 128% move valuable this year than it was last year. You can’t argue with math.

But Dreamforce isn’t tomorrow–it starts November 17. If you come, you nonprofit user who hasn’t registered yet, you who has great ideas and insight to share with others, you who has so much to learn, the power of our network increases amazingly quickly.

If we can get to double last year’s attendance, we will acheive 4 times the value of last year’s Dreamforce! It’s true–Metcalfe is right!

This year will be my 4th Dreamforce conference. Every year has been much better than the previous. Every nonprofit organization that has taken the time and effort to use Salesforce.com to help manage their operations should find a way to send at least one staff member to the conference. The information, relationships, and experience will pay off many times the costs of traveling and registration.

If you’re at a Nonprofit using Salesforce.com, or thinking about using it, we currently have a $199 registration rate for you. To get the promotion code, email crmdonation@salesforce.com.

Come be a part of network power. See Metcalfe’s Law up close and personal! Join us in November!

Small steps to a larger goal

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 May 2010 04:01 Written by Steve Monday, 26 October 2009 02:24

On a recent trip to the Bay Area, I had a chance to share a dinner with an amazingly productive and visionary friend who works in the social change field. In the midst of dinner she asked me a very interesting question,

“When your goal is very long-term, how do you decide what to do today? What is your process for making choices about what gets done first?”

Really, really interesting question that is at the heart of my work, and at the heart of all self-directed knowledge work. With knowledge work, we often aren’t told what to do, or even what our outcomes should be. We have to start with a long-term vision and walk back to tangible tasks to do and real systems to build.

In the course of our conversation some cool things came out.

First, I tend to prefer tasks that get others unstuck. If people can’t get some of their work done because of a bug or bad process, I want to address that as soon as I can. A key thing about knowledge work–so much of what gets done gets done by other people. We’re almost always in teams, and unsticking teammates is crucial to team success.

Another thing about getting other people unstuck is it shows you are listening. Addressing a piece of work that others have raised shows you respect the needs and input of others. That will bank good will for when you need it in the future.

Second, I like to do things that overtly show movement in the right direction. People love incremental improvement they can see. It’s much better to take many small steps toward a goal, and let people see them happen, than to take a giant leap that happens behind closed doors. Salesforce.com has done an exceptional job at this over the years. There is a faith among the customer base that all problems will be eventually resolved, because they’ve seen progress every 3 months for years now, even if there isn’t faith they will be all addressed tomorrow.

Third, do things that don’t create a big support tail for you. When you work with a community of users or customers, their requests can easily overwhelm you. Don’t jump to do work that creates an untenable support load. Analyze all work you’re considering with this lens. It’s not always clear if you’re setting yourself up for a big tail, so be careful. Doing things without a tail will allow you to move on to the next task with all you’ve got.

Fourth, think about how you would undo or improve the work you just accomplished. If you are implementing a process that thousands of people will interact with, you want to get it right the first time because changing that in the future may involve re-training all those people. But if you’re designing how a request from that system is handled behind the scenes, it might not affect many users to swap out a new way to handle that request. If you’re abstracted from the end users, with technology or personal processes, things will be easier to change. And if things are easy to change in the future, you can move more quickly now, and get more done.

Finally, don’t make any decisions today that you can‘t put off to tomorrow. This may sound like procrastination, but it’s not. You will usually have more information tomorrow than you do today, so if you can make progress without locking yourself into something, you’re better off.

I hope this helps you think about the knowledge work you’re doing every day. We all make this kind of analysis innumerable times subconsciously in our work. It was great to have my friend raise the question and get me thinking about it.

ONE/Northwest is hiring a CRM consultant

Last Updated on Monday, 26 October 2009 08:08 Written by Steve Monday, 26 October 2009 08:08

Anyone who asks me has heard the story–ONE/Northwest was an absolutely fabulous job with amazing people. I loved my time there–the technical challenges, the freedom to lead, the opportunity to shape the strategy. I won’t ever stop talking about ONE/Northwest, and the folks I shared that time with will always have a place in my heart.

So good news for you! ONE/Northwest is hiring a CRM consultant. You could deliver cutting-edge Salesforce solutions to groups that will change the world with your work. Check out the job description and see if you’re up for some of what I think is the most fulfilling work around!