CRM MVP Podcast

When Microsoft introduces features into Dynamics 365, they have an objective in mind and a gap to fill with it. But there's always a different and perhaps clever way to use some of these features to achieve a completely different goal.

Links:

Scheduling recurring workflows: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/mvpawardprogram/2013/03/11/scheduling-recurring-workflows-in-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-online-and-on-premise/

This is our 2 year anniversary episode!

In this episode, we talk about a massive CRM project failure that took place years ago, and my Top 5 red flags that can tell you if your project is going down the same road to failure.

Links:

EDS vs. BskyB Court Decision: https://www.scribd.com/document/32707026/EDS-v-BskyB-court-decisions

EDIT: Several people asked me if this was a Microsoft Dynamics CRM/365 implementation because I didn't make that clear on the episode.

The project that's the subject of this episode started in November 2000. Microsoft Dynamics CRM was not released until 2003.

So the answer is No.

But this was a CRM Implementation and the lessons we learned from this disaster can be extrapolated to the implementation of ANY CRM solution available in the market today.

However, the software is not the focus or the reason for the disaster. Based on the way things were done, I think the project would've been a disaster regardless of the software being implemented.

I will discuss more on Episode 53.

If you haven't been paying attention to PowerApps and the Power Platform lately you are missing a massive shift in the world of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement.

As far as I'm concerned, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement consulting, implementations, architecture, and approach - the entire CRM game - has changed forever.

I decided to invite three CRM MVPs to the show to discuss these changes and hopefully give you our perspective and lessons we've learned so far.

Guests:

Steve Mordue: https://twitter.com/stevemordue

Kuba Skalbania: https://twitter.com/KubaSkalbania

Mark Smith: https://twitter.com/nz365guy

My first MVP Summit was in 2012, I had been an MVP for about 4 months and the experience was amazing and overwhelming. I wanted to hear what first timers were thinking after day 1 of the summit.

This year's MVP Summit was attended by 12 first timers, so after a few adult beverages I invited/convinced 9 of them to jump on the mics and talk about their experience at their very first MVP Summit.

Now, I'll just go ahead and say that recording a podcast episode at around midnight is probably not the best idea, so this is not our most technical episode ever, but it was entertaining - and at some points hilarious - to record.

Tune in to listen to some behind the scenes stories from the MVP Summit, best practices, who they want to see at the summit next year, and more from these amazing legends.

Microsoft MVPs on this episode:

Antti Pajunen: https://twitter.com/anttipajunen

Chris Huntingford: https://twitter.com/TattooedCRMGuy

Julien Miquel: https://twitter.com/Ju_li3n

James Novak: https://twitter.com/crmdevjim

Ulrik Carlsson: https://twitter.com/crmchartguy

Sarah Jelinek: https://twitter.com/dyn365diva

Elaiza Benitez: https://twitter.com/benitezhere

Natraj Yegnaraman: https://twitter.com/RajYRaman

Clément Olivier: https://twitter.com/Clement0livier

This episode was recorded days before the Microsoft MVP Summit 2019 conference.

Many of my listeners have what it takes to become a CRM MVP but unfortunately very few will make it. Setting aside the people who are not willing or able to do the work needed to become an MVP, I wanted to focus on those who are willing and able to do the work, and have the skills and commitment as well, but who could be making one or more mistakes that could be holding them back on their pursuit to become a Microsoft MVP.

I can confess I made some of these mistakes and somehow still made it, but I wanted to pass my personal best practices along and hopefully get to see you in Redmond at the Microsoft MVP Summit 2020.

Links:

More info about the program: https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/pages/what-it-takes-to-be-an-mvp

My contributions: https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/PublicProfile/4039758

Daryl LaBar is a 3x Microsoft MVP and a world-class Dynamics 365 developer. He stopped by the CRM MVP Podcast studio to share the Top 10 mistakes CRM developers make.

Top 10 mistakes:

1. Not learning TypeScript
2. Not using a tool to deploy webresources
3. Not using EarlyBinding
4. Not using a plugin base
5. Not creating a custom execution context
6. Not creating unit tests
7. Not logging plugin context on errors
8. Looking up pre images by name
9. Putting all your plugin logic in a single Execute method
10. Not using extension methods to keep code dry and discoverable

Hosted by Daryl LaBar: https://twitter.com/ddlabar

Every time I get an opportunity to train new Solution Architects I always enforce the importance of understanding Dynamics 365 and Power Platform licenses when it comes to designing or architecting Dynamics 365 solutions.

There are many reasons why understanding licensing is important. Lack of knowledge regarding licensing can lead to the creation of solutions that cost the organization a lot more in licensing than estimated or more than what's needed, or on the opposite side you might be paying for functionality your users will never leverage or even access, or even worst, you design a solution that relies on features that users don't have access to.

Recently CRM MVP Jukka Niiranen wrote two amazing blog articles that went over these details. Demystifying Dynamics 365 & Power Platform licensing PART 1 and PART 2

I decided to invite Jukka to the show to talk about licensing, and to discuss his approach to Solution Architecture while keeping licensing details and capabilities in mind.

Guest:

Jukka Niiranen: https://twitter.com/jukkan

His blog: https://survivingcrm.com/

Today's episode is hosted by Michael Ochs, a Dynamics 365 MVP and veteran developer.

Mike was joined by 4 of the best Dynamics 365 developers in the world. Tune in to hear them discuss a variety of deeply technical topics and share their best practices and favorite tools.

Guests:

Michael Ochs: https://twitter.com/MikeFactorial

Daryl LaBar: https://twitter.com/ddlabar

Nick Doelman: https://twitter.com/readyxrm

Andrew Butenko: https://twitter.com/a33ik

Jason Lattimer: https://twitter.com/JLattimer

It is no secret that I love speaking at conferences and delivering training, but all the success I've had as a presenter came from all of the learning I've done since I started teaching full time over 15 years ago.

In this episode, I share all of my secrets behind the way I prepare for, deliver, and evaluate a session. Whether the session is 45 minutes or 5 days long, the process is always the same.

Regardless if you are a seasoned professional speaker, or just trying to get better, listen to this episode to learn more about the process and pick up some tricks along the way.

In order to implement an effective Dynamics 365 solution, your users need to adopt it, and it is near impossible to get users to adopt a solution that has a poor user experience, so I wanted to spend an hour talking about the User Interface and User Experience best practices I use on every implementation I lead as a Solution Architect.

I also talk about Unified Interface gaps and share my Top 5 User Experience Accelerators!