What separates a Technical Architect from a CTA? Do you wonder exactly what it takes to become a CTA? There’s a lot of buzz in the ecosystem about this sought-after credential and you might be asking if it is the right fit for you. In this session we will cover some of the expectations and responsibilities of a CTA and what it takes to achieve beyond the prerequisites. You will get a better understanding of the Technical Architect path and what it means to be on the JourneyToCTA.

1. The CTA Mindset
Melissa Shepard & Lilith Van Biesen

2. OUR SPONSORS

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● 32x Salesforce certified
● DF21 Golden Hoodie recipient during the first ever Architect
Keynote
● Founder & mentor ScaleUp Archs nonprofit
● MuleSoft, Ladies Be Architects & Well-Architected Ambassador
● Marketing Champion
● Trailblazer Mentor
● Boston Architect User Group Leader
● Founder & Admin of Architect Ohana Slack
● Organizer Northeast Dreamin & co-founder/organizer Architect
Dreamin
Lead Technical Architect, Lizztech Consulting
Melissa Shepard CTA
● SAIMA Group & Brussels Salesforce Architect
Group Co-Leader
● Salesforce Principal Architect @ Capgemini
● 28x Salesforce certified
● Amateur zookeeper of 🐈 2 cats 🐈 & 🐕 2 dogs
🐕
Lilith Van Biesen
trailblazer.me/id/lvanbiesen
Principal Architect at Capgemini, CTA & MVP
Lilith Van Biesen
@lissa__x
linkedin.com/in/lissa0977

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The CTA Mindset

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What is the CTA?

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• Launched in 2011
• https://www.salesforce.com/blog/certified-technical-architects/
• Only about 400 CTAs currently (official numbers are not released)
• https://www.salesforceben.com/become-a-salesforce-certified-technical-archi
tect/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Cmzc-KTAk
• Multi-step exam:
• Attain prerequisite certifications (multiple choice).
• Pass the Architect Review Board Evaluation (business case with 1 CTA judge).
• Pass the Review Board Exam (business case with 3 CTA judges).
The CTA Certification

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• Requires broad as well as specialised knowledge of Salesforce
and Enterprise Architecture
• Split into 7 domains
• System Architecture
• Security
• Data
• Solution Architecture
• Integration
• Development Lifecycle and Deployment Planning
• Communication
The CTA Certification

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• Preparation - 1-2 years recommended including studying and
practicing mocks
• Identify your gaps
• Work with a mentor or mentors
• Have a small study group of 4-5 people and meet daily
• Present many mock review boards to a mentor and community
judges
• Have a plan and follow it
The CTA Journey

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What is a CTA?

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• Has a thirst for knowledge
• Can effectively communicate
• Is curious and likes to do R&D to see how things will work
• Has experience
• Shows confidence
• Has Leadership skills
• Critical thinker
• Lifelong learner
• Future-thinking
Traits of a CTA

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Salesforce Architect
• Gains extensive platform knowledge
• Knows when to use platform features
vs going custom
• Understands basic integration
patterns
• Knows how to handle data
on-platform
• Understands platform security
features
CTA
● + enterprise knowledge
● + what will be lowest risk for project
and bring highest ROI
● + which pattern to use when and why
and how to secure data between all
systems
● + what data should really be kept
on-platform and when to move it
off-platform
● + best security mechanisms to use
for each system in the landscape

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Building the CTA
mindset

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• The Salesforce platform
• Common enterprise systems
• Common AppExchange apps (e.g. for document management, signature,
generation, etc.)
For all these, understand:
• What business functions they perform
• What data they hold
Keys to building the CTA mindset
Know

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• Integration patterns & tools to share data between systems
• How decisions influence the ROI
• Risks and how to mitigate them properly
• Large Data Volumes and how to mitigate this - on and off-platform
Build up mental decision trees based on knowledge to know what option to
choose based on business requirements as inputs
Keys to building the CTA mindset
Understand

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• Answer questions and objections short and to the point
• Justify decisions and communicate value
• Combine technical knowledge with business acumen and solid communication
skills
• Approach from different perspectives
• Be the bridge between business and IT
• Be precise and concise, leverage the right keywords to do so
• Use language that can be easily understood by the business
• Take the lead to propose a well argumented solution, not options
Keys to building the CTA mindset
Communicate

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Ruth’s advice
Keep in mind:
• Identifying and raising risks does not make you a Debbie Downer.
• There will be a point where something needs to give.
• Be wary of quick and dirty => “There is no such thing as a temporary
solution.”
• Protect usability and quality, both lead to adoption.
Communication is key. It is part of your
responsibility and ownership as an architect.
Scope Schedule
Quality Budget

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• Think about options but recommend the optimal solution
• Use knowledge and experience to make decisions
• Recommend simple solutions to solve complex problems
• Keep in mind not every technical problem, needs a technical solution
• One problem can have multiple solutions
• Be able to defend, justify, communicate effectively by keeping in mind
• Considerations of your choice
• Trade-offs between other choices - why would you recommend one vs the other?
• Understand the pros and cons of each and be able to recommend the best solution
• Scalability implications of your choice - will it scale enough?
Understand
Solution Options

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• How to secure integrations
• Ways to implement Oauth
• JWT for Server-to-Server
• One-way and Two-way TLS (MTLS), where and when you would want to use it
• Data privacy
• Data retention of on-platform data in case of LDV and performance implications
• Archival process to help mitigate your LDV
• How would this work?
• Where will the data go?
• How different integration patterns can affect performance
• Data visibility and sharing - what data can users see?
Understand
Performance, Scalability & Security

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• Maintainability - clicks vs code
• Simple OOTB solutions can sometimes suffice - lower cost, lower risk
• Avoid solutions that will create technical debt
• Solutions that bring higher ROI are more desirable
• Total cost of ownership
• Going with an AppExchange app over building custom to solve a business problem
• Licensing costs - Platform, Service vs Sales or both?
• Adoption
• Time to market - how fast can you get the functionality to your end users
• Does it actually make sense to do the work or can a process be changed to fit what is
already OOTB?
Understand
Value for the Business

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• Ease of use
• Understand how users are actually going to use the solution/system
• How many clicks does it take for a user to perform a task?
• User Experience (and Interface)
• Can a Screen Flow help with a complex process?
• Will your integrations have impacts on User Experience? Choosing Request
& Reply vs Fire & Forget
• Think about driving user adoption through your solution
• Process Mapping more holistic end-to-end solutions and user experience
Understand
Adoption

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Ruth’s advice
Ask yourself:
• What type of user are we dealing with?
• Internal / external?
• If you're working with external users, when and how are they created
and onboarded? How do you keep your licenses from spiraling?
• Frequent / occasional?
• Are we dealing with intuitive process flows >< trained procedures?
• Do we even have the possibility to train these users?
• What are the long term implications of our UI options?
• For example: implementation, maintenance, licenses, required skill
set
Thinking from a user point of view is vital in producing a
solution that makes sense and will be used.

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• Advise on process best practices
• DevOps, governance, project management
• Provide guidance & mentoring to help companies implement process
• Be able to explain benefit to the business
• How will it less risky than another option
• How it will benefit the project timeline
• Look at big picture, future thinking - 3, 4, 5 years down the road not just today!
• How does it scale with growth
• Engage with stakeholders
• How does something solve a business problem
• Ownership and the role of trusted advisor are what differentiates an architect from a
consultant/dev/admin
Become a Trusted Advisor

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Next steps

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• Ask questions about the technical aspects of how a solution is
implemented
• What’s really going on behind the scenes?
• A complex Flow with integrations
• A tool such as Elements.cloud can help you understand processes in your org
• Poke around in your org and identify areas for improvement
• Technical Debt?
• Play around in a sandbox doing R&D for changes that you would like to
make
• Make sure that nothing breaks!
Be Curious!

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Understand the
business problems
Identify potential
solutions
Practice
presenting
Review with a
mentor
Solidify Building a CTA Mindset

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Ruth’s advice
Why ask questions?
• Context: Who, when, where, what, why
• AS IS: Five whys
• TO BE: Evaluate room for change in a process
This includes asking yourself questions too:
• Which assumptions am I making?
• These are the points to validate with customers and the questions to ask.
• Do I understand the context, needs and challenges?
• If not, what information and who do I need to get this understanding?
Being an architect is often asking the right
questions.

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Check out Well-Architected!
https://architect.salesforce.com/well-architected/overview

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Recommended Reading
Becoming a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect Must read - should be part of any CTA journey
Salesforce Data Architecture and Management Strongly recommend
Enterprise Integration Patterns Strongly recommend
Developing Data Migrations and Integrations with Salesforce: Patterns and
Best Practices Strongly recommend
Salesforce B2C Solution Architect's Handbook
Strongly Recommend for B2C Solution
Architect exam
Solving Identity Management in Modern Applications: Demystifying OAuth 2.0,
OpenID Connect, and SAML 2.0
Recommended, especially if you struggle with
Identity concepts
Salesforce Architect's Handbook: A Comprehensive End-to-End Solutions
Guide Nice to have
Salesforce Lightning Platform Enterprise Architecture: 3rd Edition Nice to have
Mastering Salesforce DevOps: A Practical Guide to Building Trust While
Delivering Innovation Nice to have
The Practice of Enterprise Architecture: A Modern Approach to Business and IT
Alignment Nice to have
Certified Enterprise Architect All-in-One Exam Guide Nice to have

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● Apex Hours
○ https://www.apexhours.com/
● Architect Ohana Slack (and YouTube)
○ https://bit.ly/3OfZwm4
● Architect Ohana YouTube
○ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfW
f8b7Dyitl0rQf7oswWlA
● CTA Study Group
○ https://www.meetup.com/CTA-Study-Gro
up
● CTA Gang of Four
○ https://ctagof.com/
● Gemma Blezard
○ http://gemmablezard.com/
● Ladies Be Architects
○ https://ladies-be-architects.com/
● SAIMA
○ https://www.meetup.com/meetup-grou
p-pxfbnzxr/
● Salesforce Architects
○ https://architect.salesforce.com/
● Salesforce Architects on Medium
○ https://medium.com/salesforce-architects
● Salesforce Architect Community
○ https://sforce.co/2wWgdAs
● Susannah Kate Plaisted
○ https://www.accidentaladmintoawesomearch.
com/
Architect Resources Join Architect Ohana ScaleUp Archs
Interest Form

30. Thank you!