HALFWAY THERE
Salesforce is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, e-commerce, analytics and application development. Some of its software products include Tableau, Slack, Mulesoft and Salescloud.
FROM EVERY ANGLE Col. Ryan Ocampo, Salesforce’s TWI fellow, designed the midpoint event schedule to ensure the fellows learned about Salesforce’s business from multiple angles. During these brief- ings, members of Salesforce teams shared information about the company’s business practices and corporate strategy, and also spoke on topics such as digital transformation and applying arti- ficial intelligence.
During the digital transformation discussion, Peter Coffee, Sales- force’s vice president for strategic research, discussed lessons learned by Salesforce to become agile and apply technological solutions to problems—a timely topic for the TWI fellows and the Army. He encouraged the fellows to “build a culture of exper- iments where you can move forward instead of trying to avoid failures.” Coffee also said team size can be a great indicator of agile performance. He shared that the best practice for agile teams is to be small enough to be fed with two large pizzas. Tis ensures everyone on the team has a defined role for the project and can really own the project. He also encouraged the team structure to include a diverse group of people who give regular feedback, celebrate team wins, and measure the results of the team. Regard- ing agility, he suggested avoiding the use of the term “project,” as that indicates there is a beginning and an end, whereas you should strive to have continuous transformation. Coffee used powerful examples to illustrate his points. One was where some- one started building a pyramid and halfway through decided to make it a cube instead.
Tis example was particularly resonant with the fellows who are familiar with the Army’s intent to implement more agile processes. Coffee’s guidance was to regularly engage with those who will use the product to ensure the practicality of the end product.
THE SALESFORCE STRATEGY Later in the schedule, Jim Cavalier, Salesforce’s senior vice president, Office of the CEO, explained the corporate strat- egy that Salesforce uses, the V2MOM, which stands for vision, values, methods, obstacles and measures. Salesforce uses this structure for both its corporate strategy and its employee performance program.
122 Army AL&T Magazine Summer 2023
Cavalier explained this model ensures there is focus, align- ment, transparency, agility and accountability for decisions made within the organization. Following this presentation, the fellows completed a “future-casting” exercise using the V2MOM model for the TWI program, with the prompt of how the TWI program can transform the Army. Participants were split into four teams and used a front page template as the V2MOM canvas. Te facilitators used Army AL&T magazine as the publication for the activity. Te headline of the paper was, “Te Vision for the TWI Program,” and the subsequent stories on the front page represented the methods and measures. Notating the values and obstacles helped inform both the vision and measures of the activ- ity. Te fellows then presented their front page to the group and included industry best practices they want to bring to the Army. Discussion included transformed leaders, modernization capa- bilities, larger pool of industry participation and maximization of time.
Also during the midpoint event, Ocampo arranged a briefing from Raymond Gobberg and Roshan Jessani of the Defense Inno- vation Unit (DIU), a DOD organization based in Silicon Valley, to discuss their unique approach to the DOD acquisition process. DIU utilizes a streamline acquisition process to rapidly develop prototypes and to field commercial solutions to address national security challenges. Te process includes an initial white paper stating how the problem will be addressed. If the pitch is accepted, then the company will attend a Shark Tank-like session to further explain its product. In the final phase, multiple companies are invited to demonstrate their prototypes, which is when the final prototype is decided. Te fellows and the DIU team then had a discussion on how this organization can be expanded to other projects within DOD.
For the rest of the midpoint session, the fellows shared their experience with their partner organizations, including company overviews, industry best practices, training opportunities and leadership mentoring.
Universally across the program, the fellows have a sponsor within the organization who assists them with navigating and network- ing within the organization. A lesson learned from many of the fellows was to find a mentor among the senior leaders early in the program, which will then open more doors and opportunities within the organization for the fellow. Te fellows’ experiences range from rotating across different departments and projects to staying with one organization for an in-depth experience. Another requirement within the program is to create a training plan, with goals and objectives, to assist prioritizing developmental
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