The Dojo is Domo’s on-line group discussion board centered on connecting, collaborating, and sharing finest practices to leverage the ability of the Domo platform. It’s monitored day by day by Domo group specialists and is a central place the place you’ll be able to ask questions, discover solutions, search options, and categorical concepts.
Grant Smith, BI supervisor at Sweetwater Sound, the most important on-line retailer of musical devices within the U.S., has been an lively member of the Dojo since his early days as a Domo consumer. The Dojo awards group members with completely different coloration belts—much like karate—as they degree up within the discussion board by answering and posing questions. This gamification system is one thing Grant, a competitor at coronary heart, has responded nicely to. Actually, Grant just lately grew to become the first-ever Black Belt since upping the rank problem on the Dojo. To be taught extra about Grant and what drove him to develop into a black belt, we met and talked it out. Right here’s how the dialog went …
Q: Grant, to begin with, congratulations on turning into the first-ever Black Belt within the Dojo. That’s such an superior accomplishment. I assume you’re in Domo on a regular basis. Is {that a} truthful assumption?
A: I stay, eat, and breathe Domo. I’m in there each single day, whether or not it’s making an attempt to resolve issues with all of the completely different instruments Domo has, creating new playing cards, dashboards and pages, or simply making an attempt to develop into a greater technical useful resource for all the opposite “Domo Brokers” we now have inside our firm.
Q: How has the Domo platform helped you personally, and the way has it helped Sweetwater Sound?
A: Each time I can automate issues, I attempt to. Domo has been a giant assist in that regard, as a result of it makes it really easy to tug knowledge in from a considerable amount of completely different sources, which is big for an internet retail firm like ours.
With Domo, we’ve actually been in a position to give knowledge to stakeholders to make extra correct and faster choices. The enjoyable half is while you see that gentle swap of their mind go on. They’re like, “Oh, now that I’ve this knowledge and I’ve that knowledge, can we do one thing like this? Can we possibly look to see how our ROI is doing on this giveaway?” That’s actually thrilling to witness.
Q: So, you’ve actually seen Domo affect the tradition.
A: Yeah, practically each single division is using Domo in a technique or one other now, whether or not it’s the reporting side, the embedded analytics software Domo All over the place—you title it.
Q: What are one or two issues that you’d inform a brand new Domo consumer?
A: It’s type of a joke, however my go-to saying is, “There’s an API for that.” Domo is a such a robust software. You possibly can customise it and do quite a lot of cool issues with it. So, for anyone new, it’s only a matter of understanding that you’ve the information at your fingertips (with Domo), and from there, it’s really easy to mess around with and take a look at issues in a different way and rapidly.
Q: When did you’re feeling such as you knew that you just had been going to develop into a grasp of the Domo platform?
A: After I was employed. Domo was brand-new to me after we started the implementation course of again in 2019. However my character is such that I wished to take possession of it. And it’s been a enjoyable expertise. I really like determining how one can resolve issues, or how one can configure one thing.
That’s why I initially went onto the Dojo. I hopped on a few month or so after we began with Domo. I simply occurred upon it, actually. Again then, it was a reasonably quiet area, simply because Domo’s consumer base was smaller than it’s now.
I am going by this philosophy of one of the simplest ways to be taught is to show. It’s a matter of, “How can I reply that query?” If I can’t reply it, then I don’t understand it. It’s having that mindset of like, “Can I clarify it to a 5-year-old, or a 15-year-old?” To clarify it entails ensuring you perceive it sufficient your self.
I didn’t actually have quite a lot of questions after I hopped on the Dojo, however different folks did. And so, after I was first beginning out, I used to be like, “Oh, hey, anyone has this query that they’re making an attempt to reply. I don’t understand it.” And that may immediate me to mess around with Domo, to see if I might resolve these issues. That’s how I discovered most of Domo—by making an attempt to reply different folks’s questions.
Q: What’s the most precious side of the Dojo for you now?
A: I’ve been in a position to construct quite a lot of good relationships with different Domo customers. I’m in a position to choose their brains and ask, “How do you do this stuff? How do you do this?” Having these connections is actually helpful.
Q: Let’s discuss concerning the gamification side of the Dojo. What’s it concerning the badges and the purpose system that you just like a lot?
A: I’m simply aggressive. I wished to get to Black Belt earlier than another person did—which can clarify why I could or might not have been on the Dojo answering questions whereas I used to be on trip! If there’s a leaderboard for me to try to climb, I’m going to go for it. And it’s enjoyable to get badges alongside the best way. Being the information nerd that I’m, I really like stats. I take pleasure in making an attempt to determine, “OK, what number of factors do I get for this? What’s that price? And are there any new badges on the market that I can get bonus factors with?”
Q: What motivated you to develop into a Black Belt, in addition to simply being aggressive?
A: I simply have this ardour for coaching and educating folks to allow them to get extra out of the platform and make cool stuff. That’s why I did a Domopalooza discuss. You possibly can discuss concerning the product all day lengthy, however how do you apply it to your job, on your firm? How do you resolve issues with it? That’s what pursuits me essentially the most.
Q: What does it imply to you to be a Main Domo? And what does that appear to be at Sweetwater Sound?
A: As a Main Domo, I’m primarily answerable for ensuring that everybody can depend on Domo and use it efficiently—and that it doesn’t develop into a swampy mess! The aim is for everybody to have the ability to make sooner, higher, and smarter choices with knowledge, and a giant a part of assembly that aim is to make sure that all the pieces in our system is well-maintained and well-governed.
As for what it seems to be like, Domo fosters quite a lot of discussions round knowledge governance, together with the place our knowledge lives, what it represents, whose definition is the proper definition, and so forth. And it’s the premise of an inner bi-weekly assembly that I lead round any new options which can be out there, any new initiatives we’ve taken on, or any questions which have come up prior to now that we now have solutions to.
These conferences have additionally given everybody an opportunity to form of have a good time what they’ve been in a position to obtain with the Domo platform, which may then be utilized by others, as nicely. That’s large not simply on these ranges, however on gaining buy-in all through your entire firm, too.
Q: Final query: If you’re speaking to a peer outdoors of Sweetwater Sound, what would you need them to learn about Domo?
A: I might say that it provides you quite a lot of flexibility. It provides energy to finish customers, as a result of it allows them to slice and cube knowledge nevertheless they see match. You possibly can go very excessive degree, or you’ll be able to go tremendous technical with it. It simply is dependent upon what precisely you’re making an attempt to perform.
