Gearset Podcast

DevOps Diaries

Welcome to the home of the DevOps Diaries podcast, brought to you by Gearset. Each week host Jack McCurdy chats to members of the Salesforce community about their experience in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Expect to hear and learn from inspirational stories of personal growth and business success, whilst discovering all the trials, tribulations, and joy that comes with delivering Salesforce for companies of all shapes and sizes.

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DevOps Diaries Episode 016 — Lorenzo Frattini — Advice on automated testing for Salesforce and the future of AI from a CTA
September 29th 2023
Lorenzo Frattini has been a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect since 2016. He is also the founder of automated testing platform, Clayton.io. With extensive consultancy experience, having worked with some of the largest Salesforce implementations globally, Lorenzo brings a wealth of knowledge and problem solving experience to this episode of DevOps Diaries.
Tune in to hear Lorenzo’s take on how Salesforce teams can embody a safe and secure attitude towards Salesforce development. Discover his recommendations for automated testing on the Salesforce platform, what it takes to “shift left”, how process can outweigh technology in the race for success, and his opinion on how the role of artificial intelligence (AI) will improve the developer experience.
Useful links
Connect with Lorenzo
- Lorenzo’s X/Twitter
- Lorenzo’s LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 015 — Hayley Tuller — Transitioning to tech with a veteran
June 28th 2023
Hayley Tuller is a United States Navy veteran, having served for 20 years as an Aircrewman, building deep technical knowledge and leadership expertise that has shaped an incredible Salesforce career transition. She is co-founder of Salesforce consultancy Navigators, is 12x Salesforce certified, and advocates for Veterans transitioning to tech, supporting organizations like Trailhead Military and Merivis.
Jack and Hayley talk about Hayley’s transition to Salesforce, focussing on the technical skills, learning methods, and leadership lessons that make veterans an asset to organizations and communities post-service. They discuss what civilian organizations should look for, and how they can make the most of the community of veterans out there transitioning to tech.
Hayley also dives into some of the methods learnt in the military that have helped her become a successful Salesforce Consultant and Architect, including Operational Risk Management, a checklist mentality, and training for leadership — and how this applies to DevOps.
Useful links
DevOps Diaries Episode 014 — Justin Edelstein: An introduction to Web3
June 15th 2023
Justin Edelstein has 17 years experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. He is one of the co-founders and now board member of Salesforce consultancy Arkus, is a member of the Salesforce MVP Hall of Fame, and has been a key figure in establishing Salesforce’s Web3 offering.
In this episode, Justin and Jack uncover what Web3 is and the foundations of this emerging technology, including a dive into blockchain and NFTs. Justin also shares his experience of guiding the development of Web3 Cloud with Salesforce, and how this technology has the potential to transform customer experiences.
Web3 goes far beyond art and cryptocurrency. Justin gives his take on how to create mass appeal where consumers can leverage this emerging technology, and how Salesforce customers have started to use Web3 along with AI in a secure way to provide new customer experiences and brand partnerships.
Useful links
DevOps Diaries Episode 013 — Cloud Giants: Exploring Salesforce CPQ with Deepak and Grant
June 2nd 2023
Grant Mangum and Deepak Veera are Salesforce Consultants at a leading consulting company, Cloud Giants. Between them, they have 14 years’ consulting experience, and have spent the last four specializing in Salesforce CPQ implementations. They bring to the table tangible real-world experience and understanding of the nuances of a product rising rapidly in popularity.
In this episode, we discover in-depth what CPQ is, and some of the challenges of working with it as part of your DevOps process. Jack, Grant, and Deepak chat about the particularities of building CPQ, ghost quotes, and the three key things that form the backbone of a great CPQ delivery process.
Grant and Deepak also share their thoughts on the differences of working with config data vs. metadata, and how important it is to have a testing process that is robust to be successful. Listen to the end to find out their recommendations on where you can learn more about CPQ, as well as what makes Gearset’s CPQ product awesome.
Useful links
Connect with Deepak and Grant
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 012 — Taylor Grimes: Staying on the leading edge
May 4th 2023
Taylor Grimes is an Architect at Salesforce, managing partner success through an Architect’s lens. Taylor has spent 10 years in the Salesforce ecosystem managing implementations for end-user customers, as well as designing solutions as a consultant. She is passionate about staying on the leading edge of technology, and ensuring the community has a wealth of resources to support their professional learning journeys.
In this episode Jack chats to Taylor about the fast-start to her career, and how Salesforce has played a pivotal role in transforming employee experiences with technology. Taylor shares how leaning into and understanding data can drive better decision making and improves a customer’s relationship with a business.
Taylor also shares her take on what’ll be important for the partner ecosystem over the rest of the year, where we should focus our investment, and the most helpful resources that Architects can use as a foundation of successful processes.
No animals were harmed in the making of this episode!
Useful resources discussed in the episode are available here.
DevOps Diaries Episode 011 — Blanca Leon-Carter: The State of Salesforce DevOps
April 14th 2023
Blanca Leon-Carter is a DevOps Architect and Principal Consultant at Slalom. Blanca has experience working with teams of all shapes and sizes with varying complexities of DevOps challenges. She is based in Chicago and is a Salesforce MVP, Golden Hoodie Recipient, Architect User Group Leader and advocate for diversity and women in tech.
In this episode Jack and Blanca chat about her journey through the technology space, and how she came to be the pillar of the Salesforce ecosystem that she is — traversing the world of non-profit organizations, higher-education, and eventually consulting via RAD Women Code. Blanca also shares with us how she gives back to the community that she has benefited from and become invested in, and how the community revitalized her career.
Blanca gives her take on some of the biggest findings from the State of Salesforce DevOps 2023 Report. She predicts what we can expect from Salesforce DevOps and the wider ecosystem this year, as well as some of the challenges that Salesforce teams practicing DevOps are facing and how to overcome them.
DevOps Diaries Episode 010 — Sam Crossland: DevOps Documentation
March 24th 2023
Sam and Jack chat about the documentation that supports a great DevOps process. Tune in to hear about what documents you can add to support your delivery process, why good documentation is needed, and how you can keep documentation relevant in your orgs.
Sam is a DevOps Architect at Gearset helping enterprise customers with their Salesforce delivery processes, and self-confessed PowerShell pro.
DevOps Diaries Episode 009 — Jodi Hrbek: Salesforce Admins are Awesome!
March 1st 2023
Jack and Jodi talk about the ever evolving role of the Salesforce Admin. Tune in to hear about how an Admin can rock their role, question everything, deliver value, and pick the path that’s right for you.
Jodi is author of “Rock Your Role as a Salesforce Admin", a long-standing community member, and is a Senior Director for Salesforce Center of Excellence in her organization.
DevOps Diaries Episode 008 — Ben McCarthy: Salesforce Ben
February 15th 2023
Jack and Ben chat about the origins of Salesforce Ben, and how it’s developed to be the media platform it is today. Tune in to hear Ben’s predictions for the ecosystem in the coming year, the kind of content you can expect to see from the recently re-launched SFBen YouTube channel, and his thoughts on where the community should be focussing their learning.
Ben McCarthy is the founder of Salesforce Ben, a non-exec director and strategy advisor, and an ex-Salesforce Consultant.
DevOps Diaries Episode 007 — Tracy Greene: Burnout
February 3rd 2023
Jack and Tracy (they/Tracy) talk about burnout in the workplace, what you can do to protect your mental health, and how you can make sure you continue to bring your best self to work. They also chat about working at NASA, self-reflection, and the support of the Salesforce community.
Tracy has 20 years experience in software engineering with a background in computer science, and is a self-confessed Flownatic.
Useful links
Connect with Tracy
- Tracy’s X/Twitter
- Tracy’s LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 006 — Ian Gotts: Centers of Excellence
January 20th 2023
Ian and Jack talk about the functions of a Center of Excellence and how they contribute to successfully managing Salesforce implementations of all shapes and sizes. They chat about what they are, how to manage the CoE itself, and the benefits of having a set of standards to deliver business objectives.
Ian is CEO and Co-Founder of change intelligence platform elements.cloud, and a long-standing member of the Salesforce ecosystem with over two decades experience managing enterprise applications.
Useful links
Connect with Ian
- Ian’s X/Twitter
- Ian’s LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 005 — Francis Pindar: DevOps Process Mapping
January 4th 2023
Francis and Jack discuss the DevOps process map, and how teams can think objectively about their process by relating it back to Salesforce. They also chat about learning mechanisms, metrics, and the theory of constraints.
Francis is a Salesforce MVP, founder of AdmintoArchitect.com, and Co-organizer of the community conference London’s Calling.
Useful links
Connect with Francis
- Francis’ X/Twitter
- Francis’ LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 004 — Andy Barrick
December 21st 2022
Andy and Jack chat about what it means to be a DevOps Architect at Gearset: how to challenge and change a team’s delivery mindset, testing being an integral part of a safe DevOps process, traffic lights, and how continuous iteration is the name of the game.
Andy Barrick is a DevOps Architect at Gearset, the leading Salesforce DevOps platform. Andy has extensive experience in Salesforce delivery methodologies across ISV’s, end-users, and professional services.
Useful links
Connect with Andy
- Andy’s LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 003 — Matt Pieper
December 14th 2022
Matt and Jack chat about developing high-performing DevOps teams and how mentorship plays a huge part in being successful, breaking things (in a good way!), as well as the importance of patience and giving back as an engineering leader.
Matt Pieper is Director of Engineering (Enterprise Applications) at LeafLink and has been in the Salesforce ecosystem for 10 years.
Useful links
Connect with Matt
- Matt’s X/Twitter
- Matt’s LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 002 — Eric Kintzer
December 7th 2022
In this episode, Eric and Jack talk about how Salesforce has changed over the years, the relevance of Apex given the changes to the Salesforce platform, the importance of version control, and how a DevOps journey evolves when replacing change sets.
Eric Kintzer is a top 10 contributor on the Salesforce StackExchange, and has a software development career spanning 30+ years.
Useful links
Connect with Eric
- Eric’s X/Twitter
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn
DevOps Diaries Episode 001 — Vanessa Grant
November 29th 2022
In the first episode of the DevOps Diaries podcast, Jack chats to Vanessa Grant about her journey as a Business Analyst and Consultant, how her background in media has contributed to her career, and how delivering projects successfully comes down to great DevOps (even if you don’t realise it).
Vanessa is Associate Principal Consultant at Simplus, a highly regarded Business Analyst in the Salesforce ecosystem, and a hugely valuable community contributor.
Useful links
Connect with Vanessa
- Vanessa’s X/Twitter
- Vanessa’s LinkedIn
Connect with Jack
- Jack’s X/Twitter
- Jack’s LinkedIn

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