Motivation behind this
We wanted to bring unconventional session which is specially needed in a work life of trailblazers, spans across various roles. This session which help audience to learn & explore about the essence of storytelling, how to frame a story aligning with the context and bring the value of what is being said.
Thanks to Supriyo Chowdhury on collectively putting thoughts, impactful content and driving the session in an elegant way.
Organizers:
Attendees: 36
Speaker: Supriyo Chowdhury & Santanu Boral
This session covers:
- Why Storytelling is important
- 3Cs Framework for Negotiation
- STAR method of business storytelling
- Role based scenarios
- Q&A
Storytelling works that solidify the blocks, building connecting the dots. That's how what are the blocks we need to tie properly and stick it together to. There is a saying. Albert Einstein said, if you can make, something understand to a six years old boy, you can make understand to any anyone in the world.
And that is why it is so important to to break it down in such a nice format that, technical jargons overcomes and makes easily understandable for business leaders.
We can also breakdown the stories to simple format:
- What - First, describe and define the facts, situation, product or position.
- So What - Next, discuss about implications and explain how it is relevant to the audience.
- Now What - Finally, outline the call to action and next steps.
In a one-liner: Keeping your audience understand what you are talking about.
STAR Model
3C Model
It talks about clarity, common ground and compromise.
Lets move on to role based scenarios.
Scenario 1: Interview scenario for a Developer.
Developers often fall into the trap of speaking only in technical language. We get excited about the Apex classes we wrote; the complex flows we built, or the triggers we optimized. But the truth is — interviewers aren’t just evaluating your coding ability. They want to see if you can connect your technical contribution to the larger business impact.
It can be framed leveraging What, So What, Now What framework or by STAR model.
What: The company’s sales reps were missing out on leads because assignments were manual. Response times were slow, and deals were slipping away. [You can relate to STAR model also, it talks about Situation.]
So What: The business needed a way to ensure that every incoming lead was instantly routed to the right salesperson. [it talks about Task.]
I have designed and implemented a Flow combined with an Apex trigger that automated lead assignment based on geography and product line. [it talks about Action.]
Now What: Response time improved by 30%, sales conversion increased by 15%, and sales managers finally had visibility into who was handling each lead. [it related to Result.]
Scenario 2: Daily Standup for a Developer
Daily standups are where developers often feel the most tension. You’re supposed to give quick updates, but very often, timelines become a point of conflict.
The Product Owner might ask, ‘Can this be done by tomorrow?’
Here negotiation comes into action.
Instead of saying "It's not possible", use the structure of the pitch resonates 3C Framework.
- Clarity - Be precise about what’s achievable. "I can complete the Flow today, but unit tests will need an extra day to ensure quality."
- Common Ground - Show you share the team’s priorities. "We all want to deliver value quickly, but we also want to avoid rework later."
- Compromise - Offer a balanced solution. "If we prioritize finishing the Flow today, I can deliver the unit tests tomorrow without risking quality."
This helps to build problem-solving attitude.
Btw, try framing your pitch in such a way, you can cover around 120 words per minute and allow others to talk, where time is limited.
Scenario 3: Client facing scenario for an architect.
You can follow 3C model to come up with the answer.
Scenario 4: Driving Sessions scenario for an architect.
As an architect, you can talk about the architecture landscape, modularity, scalability, extendibility taking unfair advantages of Salesforce platform, but also bring the business benefits quoting some numbers e.g. 15% increase in productivity, 25% increase in CSAT etc.
Scenario 5: Value of work for Admin
Admin has been asked to create an amount field in Opportunity object and before even creating the field what are the possible questions he can ask wearing Business Analyst hat.
- Who are the personas will be using this?
- Whether they will view it or touch it?
- Where this field will be exposed? any layout, UI etc.
- Whether this field data to be passed to any external system via API or vice-versa.
- Any data to be migrated to fill up the field data?
- Is this field reportable? If so, any existing reports and new reports.
- Any changes in Apex or Flows or any rules using this field?
- If this field data encrypted?
Sounds interesting! Lets move on to the next scenarios.
Scenario 6: QE scenario
Scenario 7: Business Analysis scenario - Bridge the gap
Personas work great. I might say: ‘Imagine Sharada, a sales rep. Before, she entered leads in three systems. After Salesforce automation, Sharada spends that time with customers instead.’ Suddenly, requirements feel human, not abstract.
Frame it using What, So What, Now What framework.
Scenario 8: Business Analysis scenario - Negotiation
Here is an example:
Stakeholders wanted a complex customization in 2 weeks. I shared data from a past project where skipping discovery caused 3 weeks of rework. I negotiated a proper discovery phase. In the end, delivery was smoother and adoption higher.’ That frames you as proactive and persuasive.
Finally, glimpse of the event.
Recordings
At the end, thanks for joining with us and thanks for reading!
