Anurag Srivastava

Every structure needs a solid foundation based on which a beautiful design is given shape. This resonated best with me when I got the golden opportunity to get my hands entwined as Salesforce Consultant on a project for one of the fortune 500 companies.

Although I knew my way around salesforce, I had created demo data of my own comfortably, declared rules and done configuration for my org to function; the arena that I was about to step into was completely different, in terms of data size and the widespread effect that an iota of change would bring to the entire setup.

So having explained the difficulty, I knew it was never going to be easy for me. I was sleepless and in deep anxiety the first day of the project.

The first day when I had my first Knowledge transfer session, I felt like a kid strolling in the amusement park, observing and absorbing every thing.But soon that stroll got converted to a rough road for me where even standing on your ground was difficult as I was now getting deep into the setup and understanding what my responsibilities would be.

The first few weeks were hard to establish my self as I lacked confidence to even ask appropriate questions that would get me going. I was unaware that a lesson was waiting for me to be taught. When I asked a question to my manager for the third time and apologized to him for doing so what he said was something, which would always remain with me. He said his grandfather once told him \\u201cyou measure twice but you cut, only once\\u201d. That day I truly understood the importance of asking questions.

Just as the system was new to me, so was the environment in which I was working and the people with whom I was working. My team had members working in the organization since 1993. It was difficult to manage team members so senior as them; their expectations were always high. They expected a particular task to be delivered within the time promised. It was difficult to always calculate delivery estimation and maintain the due dates for milestones, while some delays were due to the client and the external factors. So, it was time for another lesson: \\u201cestimate the delivery time keeping bottlenecks and possible delays in mind\\u201d, and always make sure to delivery within that time frame.

Tasks, assignments, configurations, management; I slowly got comfortable with all the day to day tasks as another bomb exploded; I was given the responsibility of presenting a demo to the client for the entire development that we did in the last development phase. It was a panic situation for me as I never did something like that in the past, in front of people who were so experienced that even a hair sized mistake wouldn\\u2019t go unnoticed by them. This was the final demo before we pushed to production.

This meant I should be prepared with all the answers for any questions that the client might poise. I should also be prepared with a couple of other ideas if the client did not like our approach and be available to answer about feasibility of other features that they might demand.

I accepted the challenge, but never thought this presentation would change my approach towards the project. We had in total 15 members on call. It felt a bit too cold inside that cabin where I was sitting; although it was not. I assume it was the nervousness that was gripping me in.

With few hiccups everything was in place, until the client started their part of discussion and as expected the questions began to fire and I felt as if I was standing in rain all frustrated and without an umbrella. Absence of the developer from my team made our task really tough as now we had an additional task of presenting his work without his assistance.

The under confident person inside me was certain that I would loose the project today. But I was resilient, and with the lessons that I had learned and work that I had done I brought all knowledge and ideas that I had to the table. 45 minutes of intense discussion later my client appreciated the way I presented the demo. This feat was huge as my firm and I were able to deliver such a big assignment in short span of time, without a single failure in Test environment.

That day I realized that it\\u2019s not the reward that I cherished. Rather it is the applauds and the appreciations from the business users and the client that is treasured into the memory. I understood what satisfaction and pride meant.

I remember taking screenshot of the appreciation, just to remind myself that if I can get through that day, I can definitely find solutions to any difficult problems in life. I changed my approach towards this assignment. Earlier while I was devoted but consistently under fear, now I was confident and comfortable in my knowledge and approach, which included lots of trials and failures but eventually, saw success.

Working as a SFDC Consultant has given me a new boost in terms of confidence, ways to deal with different people and most importantly value for time. With every project and every client, I always learn something new and different. Every new environment is a challenge. But I no longer fear these challenges, I welcome them as an opportunity to learn and progress.

Anurag, one of few Core Consultadd workforce members, has rendered his services to our clients, including his recent assignment for a Fortune 500 companies.