I was recently interviewed for a story on the gender pay gap for Dynamics professionals.  A recent study by Nigel Frank showed about 11% pay gap for folks in the same role, different gender.  That’s actually not an awful statistic.  It shouldn’t exist at all, but I am far too realistic to think we’ll never have a pay gap of some variety.

I have been on record many times on this subject (maybe that’s why they keep asking me for more quotes ). 

The survey also shows a big gap in the amount of women working in Dynamics roles. It seems that 77% of Dynamics CRM pros are men.  In my experience that is a good thing.  When I’m the only woman in the room at a professional event, I am remembered.  I don’t blend in with a bunch of other stereotypical male geeks.  To me, that’s free advertising.

For the interview we chatted a bit about not only pay gaps and gender make-up in the Dynamics World, but also about work-life balance.  How to be a working parent and so on.  But the story didn’t use what was my best quote on the pay gap.

“Sure you can have it all.  Just not all at the same time”

Starting off with admitting that I am not always nice to folks soliciting for my business (literally a few minutes ago I had to ask some repeat solicitors to leave my office).  It’s in part because of the utter incompetence of most solicitors and in part my impatience with such things.  Cold calling and cold emailing just don’t sit well with me, if you want my business spend a minute or two of your time so I don’t feel like one in a crowd of many.  Not that hard, I’m pretty easy to find and learn about online.

And it’s for that reason that I am writing this blog post right now.  Like many of you, I recently attended Convergence.  I had my badge scanned many times.  I got lots of emails.  A got a few phone calls.  One email got my attention.

It came from Trevor Poapst at Riva.  They have a product that does email sync with Dynamics CRM.  I don’t currently have a need for such a thing, but Trevor (or someone that gave the info to Trevor?) took the time to learn a little about my company before he emailed me, even referenced a deal we have that’s government and as such is public record.  I responded with a polite no thank you, but hey great email.  He replied back super duper kind and not pushy.  If I ever need such a tool, I will go look at theirs first.

Take a minute to learn a little bit more about the folks you are interacting with, don’t make them feel like they are just a quick sale.

In the way that Jeff Foxworthy helped us know if we are (or aren’t) rednecks, I’m here to help you decide what role you play on your CRM team.  Why does it matter?  Where to look for help?  Training?  Skills assessments for potential new-hires.  And so on…

With a little help from Leon Tribe and Amy Langlios, here it goes…

 

You might be a Dynamics CRM Power User if…

• your co-workers come to you for help
• you know the difference between marketing, sales and service modules
• you handle product updates with (little or no?) stress
• you know why you should (or shouldn’t) be using the Outlook client
• you have changed your views from the default of 50 to 250
• your favorite CRM folders are an Outlook shortcut or favorite
• you use conditional formatting or the Group By box on CRM data
• You know how to build your detailed advanced find queries (bonus points if you grab the fetchxml and give it to your report writer)
• you make your own views, charts, dashboards and wizard-generated reports
• you know the difference between a workflow and a dialog
• you know what you can extend, even if you’re not the one doing it

You might be a Dynamics CRM administrator if…

• (the entire list above plus)
• you can train others how to do what you do
• you add and manage users, teams, security roles
• you make system views, reports, dashboard, etc
• you know the differences between CTP and O365
• you know the differences between CRM online and on-premises

You might be a Dynamics CRM Customizer (configurer too) if…

• you know which solution to use for your work
• you know CRM architecture and can draw your data-model on a whiteboard
• you know why and when you’d use the default solution, a managed solution and unmanaged solution
• you are adding entities and attributes
• you build custom forms, views, charts, dashboards
• you make reports, using the wizard and/or external reports

You might be a Dynamics CRM developer if…

• you know the reason you’d use managed or unmanaged in your world
• you write plug-ins
• you make custom workflow activities
• you understand the difference between client side and server side programming
• you can create the same query three different way
• you know what a “message” is

There has to be more, but this list should get you started on your quest.