The Dojo is Domo’s on-line group discussion board centered on connecting, collaborating, and sharing finest practices to leverage the facility of the Domo platform. It’s monitored every day by Domo group consultants 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 energetic member of the Dojo since his early days as a Domo consumer. The Dojo awards group members with completely different shade belts—much like karate—as they stage 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. In actual fact, Grant not too long ago turned the first-ever Black Belt since upping the rank problem on the Dojo. To be taught extra about Grant and what drove him to grow to be 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 reside, eat, and breathe Domo. I’m in there each single day, whether or not it’s attempting to resolve issues with all of the completely different instruments Domo has, creating new playing cards, dashboards and pages, or simply attempting to grow to be a greater technical useful resource for all the opposite “Domo Brokers” we have now inside our firm.
Q: How has the Domo platform helped you personally, and the way has it helped Sweetwater Sound?
A: Every 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 a web-based retail firm like ours.
With Domo, we’ve actually been in a position to give knowledge to stakeholders to make extra correct and faster selections. The enjoyable half is while you see that mild 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 influence the tradition.
A: Yeah, practically each single division is using Domo in a method or one other now, whether or not it’s the reporting side, the embedded analytics instrument Domo In every single place—you title it.
Q: What are one or two issues that you’d inform a brand new Domo consumer?
A: It’s form of a joke, however my go-to saying is, “There’s an API for that.” Domo is a such a strong instrument. You may customise it and do numerous 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 otherwise and shortly.
Q: When did you are feeling such as you knew that you simply have been going to grow to be a grasp of the Domo platform?
A: Once I was employed. Domo was brand-new to me once we started the implementation course of again in 2019. However my persona is such that I needed to take possession of it. And it’s been a enjoyable expertise. I 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 house, simply because Domo’s consumer base was smaller than it’s now.
I’m 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 elucidate it entails ensuring you perceive it sufficient your self.
I didn’t actually have numerous questions after I hopped on the Dojo, however different individuals did. And so, after I was first beginning out, I used to be like, “Oh, hey, anyone has this query that they’re attempting to reply. I don’t understand it.” And that will immediate me to mess around with Domo, to see if I may resolve these issues. That’s how I discovered most of Domo—by attempting to reply different individuals’s questions.
Q: What’s the most useful side of the Dojo for you now?
A: I’ve been in a position to construct numerous good relationships with different Domo customers. I’m in a position to choose their brains and ask, “How do you do these items? How do you do this?” Having these connections is basically useful.
Q: Let’s discuss concerning the gamification side of the Dojo. What’s it concerning the badges and the purpose system that you simply like a lot?
A: I’m simply aggressive. I needed to get to Black Belt earlier than another person did—which can clarify why I’ll or could not have been on the Dojo answering questions whereas I used to be on trip! If there’s a leaderboard for me to attempt 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 like stats. I take pleasure in attempting 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 grow to be a Black Belt, in addition to simply being aggressive?
A: I simply have this ardour for coaching and instructing individuals to allow them to get extra out of the platform and make cool stuff. That’s why I did a Domopalooza discuss. You may 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 basically accountable for ensuring that everybody can depend on Domo and use it efficiently—and that it doesn’t grow to be a swampy mess! The purpose is for everybody to have the ability to make sooner, higher, and smarter selections with knowledge, and a giant a part of assembly that purpose is to make sure that every part in our system is well-maintained and well-governed.
As for what it appears like, Domo fosters numerous 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 idea of an inside bi-weekly assembly that I lead round any new options which can be obtainable, any new initiatives we’ve taken on, or any questions which have come up previously that we now have solutions to.
These conferences have additionally given everybody an opportunity to kind of have fun what they’ve been in a position to obtain with the Domo platform, which might then be utilized by others, as nicely. That’s large not simply on these ranges, however on gaining buy-in all through the complete 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’d say that it provides you numerous flexibility. It provides energy to finish customers, as a result of it permits them to slice and cube knowledge nonetheless they see match. You may go very excessive stage, or you’ll be able to go tremendous technical with it. It simply is determined by what precisely you’re attempting to perform.
