Why I am a Catholic Knight of Columbus

When I tell people that I am a member of the Catholic Knights of Columbus, I usually receive one of two reactions.  Non-Catholics simply say, “What’s that?”.  Catholics often respond, “Why?”  This is sometimes followed up with, “What do you guys do?” or “My grandfather joined for the insurance” or even “Do you go just to drink?”

The people who have no idea of the function of the Knights are easy to enlighten.  After a brief run down of our activities and goals, they nearly always leave with a positive impression.  It is those who already have an idea of what goes on--or think that they do--who are a much tougher nut to crack.  It is to them I address this:  Why I am a Knight.

1.  I am a Knight to serve our Lord, Mary His Mother, the Church, and the Holy Father.  Like every other Knight, I devote my life to advancing God’s kingdom on earth and to protecting life, both born and unborn.  As blessed John Paul II said, we are “...the strong right arm of the Church”.

2.  I am a Knight to serve people everywhere, Catholic or not.  We feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, care for the widow and the orphan, assist the disabled, pray for the holy souls in purgatory, and we are friends of the forgotten.  Whether it is a pancake breakfast to raise money for special needs children or money collected for a family burned out of their home, we are there.

3.  I am a Knight to make me a better man.  It is in fire that steel is strengthened and it is with other Catholic gentlemen that I learn how to be more honest, kind, even tempered, and loyal to the teachings that make me a good, Catholic Christian.

4.  I am a Knight because it is fun.  I can’t deny it.  All the other reasons are of course the most important, but being a Knight is fun.  We eat, work, argue, occasionally drink a beer, and in general do guy things.  Our actions are always framed by what it means to be a loyal Son of the Church, but there’s no denying it--we have a good time.

So there you have it; that’s why I’m a proud, 3rd degree, Catholic Knight of Columbus.

Salesforce CRM: The Definitive Admin Handbook

I'm old enough to remember when buying a new widget or a piece of software meant receiving an instruction manual. Now, if you're fortunate, there might be a single page quick start guide.  Even with the proliferation of on line documentation, forums, and the ever present Google search, there is nothing like a well written, consistent, authoritative book to take a new Salesforce.com administrator by the hand and lead her in the paths of good practice.

Paul Goodey's "Salesforce CRM: The Definitive Admin Handbook" is just such a guide. Weighing in at 340+ pages, chocked full of screen shots, and useful diagrams, this tome is the antitheses of the Dummies or Idiot's books.  In here, you find no cartoons, jokes, or light hearted banter.  Instead, every page is packed with solid, useful, information.  This is the book that Salesforce should give to every new customer, if only to cut down on calls to their support lines.

Goodey sets out the chapters in a logical order, starting with "Getting Started with the Salesforce CRM Application:  Organization Administration".  He moves the reader through the process of user logins, company profile, and interface.  Each chapter builds on the previous in roughly the order an administrator would create and roll out a new org.  Unlike others, he gets down to the fine details that often confuse new users.  For example, a detailed discussion of Standard versus Custom Fiscal Years is included. 

If all this book did was help a new admin get her org off the ground, it would be worth the price, but it goes much further.  Chapter five is devoted to data analytics.  In here, the author dives deeply into the world of reports, formulas, dashboards, and filters.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  These are the parts that are visible to the end user and will to a large extent, determine how successful the deployment will be perceived.  

Chapter six walks the new(er) admin down the path of business processes, including workflows, approvals, and alerts.  This is a treacherous zone where Salesforce shows both its power and its peril.  A well built process and rule set can make life easier for the users and accelerate sales and support cycles.  A poorly implemented workflow on the other hand, is like a clumsy knife juggler performing on a life raft--always one instant away from disaster.  Goodey does an admirable job of not only getting the technical details correct on a complex topic, but in laying down basic principles for gathering the data needed to build the steps.

The next chapter, seven, dips a toe into campaign, lead, account, contact, and case management.  This is perhaps the least satisfactory chapter, not for any defect in writing, but because each of the sub-topics warrants a book on its own.  Still, the introduction is sufficient for the nature of this work and the author is accurate in his comments.  Hard to ask for more in a general manual.

Eight is an interesting section.  He introduces the reader to mashups, Visualforce, Apex code, and triggers.  Even more than the proceeding chapter, these items are wickedly nuanced and need many more pages to fully immerse an admin in their care and feeding.  The chapter does well giving an overview and builds a solid enough footing for the reader to go out and learn more on her own.

The only criticisms I have are minor.  First, being a printed book, it is outdated as soon as the ink dries.  For example, on page 73, the method of granting administrative access is no longer fully accurate.  A minor point, but the reader should use some caution to verify with current documentation, before depending on printed matter.  Second, I think it could have benefited by an appendix directing us to the huge amount of on line resources available.

Who is this book for?  Let's start with who it is not suited for:

1.  If you like funny cartoons and amusing examples

2.  If you need someone to explain to you what the "internet" is

3.  If you are a normal, non-admin, user of Salesforce.com

Who is it suited for:

1.  If you are an new(er) admin or a very advanced power user of Salesforce.com

2.  You are considering switching to Salesforce.com from another CRM system and want an overview of the technical aspects

3.  If you are an experienced admin and you want a quick refresher or a good reference book

Overall, I give "Salesforce CRM: The Definitive Admin Handbook" by Paul Goodey, 5 of 5 stars.

The Problem Isn't the Cloud

When I was a young boy living in St. Louis in the 1960's, we experienced perhaps three or four electrical blackouts per year, each lasting from a few hours to a day or more.  These days, I live in New Jersey and we have a significant blackout roughly every three to four years.  Interestingly, the situation for internet access seems to be similar to what it was for electricity when I was a child.

If today, an area had a two day power outage, the news papers would cover it and politicians would be screaming for the heads of those responsible.  If an area loses internet for two, three, or more days, it gets written off as a minor inconvenience and the service provider might, if they're feeling generous, offer a few free days to compensate.

The computing cloud exists, it works, and it is rapidly improving and evolving.  The weak link in the chain is the infrastructure that delivers the cloud to our devices.  There is absolutely no reason I shouldn't be able to board a bus in NYC and get off in LA, having never lost a strong, fast signal.  No reason except for neglect and shortsightedness.  My country has decided to fund the military industrial complex and let the in net grid go to hell.  Until our priorities get right and we invest fully in our future, the cloud will always be held back by a lack of reliable, universal, coverage.