Tag: Books

Mastering BC 2.0

If you like enormous books that are chockfull of information on a wide variety of technical topics related to Business Central, you must drop everything that you are doing, RIGHT NOW, and let me tell you all about this book. I’ll even give you a link where you can order it.

Book Review Number Twelve

In early 2023 I got a message from Packt with a question whether I would like to help review another book. Over the years I have reviewed a bunch of books for Packt (this is number 12). It had been a while since the last one, so I was excited to put on my reviewer hat. This one was going to be a new and updated edition of a book called “Mastering Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central”. This is a very well-known reference book that is written by the dynamic Italian duo of Stefano Demiliani and Duilio Tacconi, both well known members of the BC community. Do yourself a favor and go follow their Twitter feeds (this one and this one), I’ll wait here.

The first edition came out in 2019, so it was about time that we got an updated version. For some reason I never got around to buying the first one, so I was fresh into this book without any preconceived notions about the content. Packt had sent me a table of content with a whopping 18 (yes, EIGHTEEN – and yes that is really spelled with just one ‘t’) chapters. VERY ambitious indeed…

It took most of 2023 to review these chapters. The sheer amount of content made it so that it regularly took entire weekends to process all the stuff and the code that was written. The last one was submitted in mid October, and the guys spent months processing all the feedback to finally release the book. They spared no effort to write the best book that they could, and it shows.

All the Things

You get 18 chapters on the most important technical topics in our BC world. I was going to write something specific about the content, but I’ll refer you to Stefano’s blog post to read more about that.

What I appreciate about this book is that each one of the chapters goes into enough meaningful detail that you feel you have a good grasp of the topic at hand. At the same time, you never get the feeling that you are taken too far into the matter. Wherever that is relevant, each chapter comes with a repository of sample code, to illustrate the topic. If you want you can write your own, and if you want to just follow along with the samples in the book, you can just open the code and poke at it.

Don’t let the sheer size of this book discourage you. Yes the book itself is MASSIVE, but the chapters individually are very manageable. There are other books that go into much more detail, but you will want to have this one to get yourself started on the topics. Another great feature is that you get access to all the book’s sample code in a GitHub repository.

My one ‘negative’ feedback was that in many instances the chapters contained the full object’s code. Sometimes you get pages of source code, which I personally think is a distraction. When I read a book like this, I have VSCode open with the sample code so I don’t need the full object in the book. I would have chosen to only include parts of the source code and highlight the important bits. When you only have the book in your hand that it can be useful to see the whole object though, so there’s an argument for whole objects anyway. Either way, you get lots of samples and that makes me very happy.

What if I already have the First Edition?

The thing is, I have not read the first edition, so I can’t speak for the content of that book. What I CAN tell you is that BC has evolved a TON since 2019, and all of the new capabilities get their due attention in this second edition. Things like Telemetry and AI were not yet available in those days, and even well-established topics have gotten a serious update, such as VSCode extensions and how DevOps can be done, and a ton of other stuff.

If you have the First Edition, it is time to retire it. This Second Edition deserves a spot on every technical BC person’s desk, or at least within reach.

Where can I Get it?

As per usual, two places where you can get it:

  • The Packt website – Packt’s online reader is really nice and searchable, I prefer it to Kindle, and there seems to be a discount on the eBook right now. Plus, being able to start reading right away is also nice, because Packt is not known for the best delivery times
  • Amazon – WAY better delivery times than Packt, so that’s where I would get it if I only wanted the paper version. The Kindle edition is more expensive than the eBook on Packt.

Mad respect and ALL the credit goes to Stefano and Duilio. In addition to having families and successful careers, they did a phenomenal job of writing this book for us. Writing this book was a monster of a task and they pulled it off. I am super proud to be a small part of making this the book that it is. Now click one of the two links and order the book!

Total Competition – Book Review

What’s a book about F1 have to do with Business Central? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Total Competition, written by Adam Parr and Ross Brawn, does contain a masterclass on leadership, at a Very Rare Level. I was fascinated by the lessons in it and how those apply to any company, in any industry. If you are in any leadership role, I would highly recommend this book and try to listen to what the authors are telling you.

What’s it about?

This book is written by two Formula One leaders. Adam Parr is a name that is known mostly in F1 circles, but Ross Brawn is an absolute Legend and is well known outside of motorsport for his accomplishments. For those that don’t know, he has like two dozen world championships under his belt, in various capacities, and he is responsible for some of the greatest successes in the history of Formula One.

Brawn gets top billing on the authorship, but the actual writing is done by Parr. He pulls together the topics and introduces them by drawing comparisons in ‘strategy’ between F1 and the concept of strategy in the military. He uses the mother of all books on strategy, ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tsu. He starts various chapters off with a few paragraphs from the book and uses it as the basis of a series of interviews. These interviews are in the book in their ‘raw dialogue’ form, although I believe that they have been edited for the book. In the audiobook, Adam Parr narrates his own part and Brawn’s part is done by a voice actor. Unfortunate because I think Brawn has such a commanding presence, it would have been awesome to hear him do his own part.

The content of the book is a case study of Brawn’s history, a deep dive into the how and why Brawn did what he did when he did them. Since Parr was also a team principal at some point, he is able to add his experiences as well and juxtapose those to Brawn’s experiences. Interesting to say the least in cases where they had opposite interests.

There is, of course, a TON of F1 content that racing fans will want to read about. What struck me though was that what interested me most were the parts where they talked about leadership and how different types of leadership affects the performance of the team. As I was listening to these two go on about how ‘strategy’ and ‘tactics’ affect the direction of the team, I was just fascinated by how their thinking was just at a completely different level than I am used to.

The Art of Leadership

My biggest takeaway was that leadership is not a latent talent. It is not something intangible that someone does or doesn’t have. Leadership is a skill that is developed over time. It takes trial and error, keen observations, and a sense of purpose. You need to be able to change course when the thing that you are doing is not giving you the results that you are looking for. It’s a matter of being honest about what you are observing and take the steps that are necessary to correct the situation.

Then there is the concept of ‘Total Competition’. Everything…. Every… Thing… can have an effect on your performance. Even the smallest little detail can change the outcome. In F1 you can talk about polishing the bugs off the paint of the car to reduce drag, or a difference in where the measuring points are of the plank underneath the car and introducing a clever mechanism to affect that millimeter of surface area to meet the scrutineers’ requirements. In business this would be to have people polish their shoes and shave every day when attending an event, or enforcing time limits and having a meeting agenda in conference calls, holding developers to guidelines and naming conventions. We could go on and on about little things that we all take for granted in one way or another.

Brawn talks about how he hates micromanagement, how he hires experts for a reason. He gets the best people for the job, and then he facilitates their success to make sure they get the best out of their situation. Not because that’s how he inherently thinks that is the way things should be done, but because he himself was in a situation where he was micromanaged and found that to be the opposite of helpful. Let the experts do what they do best. Do not think that just because you are the boss, that you need to dictate what everybody does and how they do it. Of course he holds everybody accountable, and in meetings he will be very demanding of his people, but he does not get into the weeds of THEIR jobs. The most effective leaders are those that stay out of the way of their people.

Finally, the concept of being willing to do what it takes. These guys operate at the pinnacle of motorsports. You cannot fathom the type of pressure is on these guys to perform, and what is needed to be able to perform at that level. Brawn is one of a very small group of people that seemed to have figured out how to identify what is needed and how to build a team of people that are willing to do what it takes to get to that level. He didn’t just move an entire team, he built new teams everywhere he went.

Must Read

If you are a Formula One fan, this is a must read. The inside view of one of the most successful people in the history of motorsport is just fascinating from purely a racing point of view. If you are in a leadership position though, you owe it to yourself to read this case study in success at the highest level imaginable.

THE Book on Automated Testing in BC

It has taken well over a year to write, and a good 8 months to review (and revise, and rewrite certain parts), and it has been delayed almost 3 months. I am SUPER proud to say though that the second edition of THE BOOK on automated testing in Business Central has been published!

As a reviewer of course I knew this was coming, and Luc finally shared the news

What if I Already Have the First Edition?

Of course you do! You are a BC professional, so therefore you’ve been adding automated testing to all of your projects right from the start, and you purchased Luc’s first book right when he wrote that. There are a few reasons why you should purchase the second edition

First of all, at 387 pages the second edition is almost twice the book as the first edition, which counts *only* 206 pages. Luc has added about a metric ton of stuff to the second edition. Not just expanded information on existing topics, but chapters about completely new topics altogether.

Major Improvements

One of the things that I thought was lacking in the first edition was more in-depth information about Test Driven Development (TDD for short). The mechanics of automated testing were solidly covered, and I was able to apply this knowledge in my work. What I was missing was how to take this to the next level. I knew there was a large methodological body of work out there about TDD, and I did not know where to start looking how that would be relevant for ME.

The second edition has filled that gap. Not only does Luc write eloquently about the methodology itself (there’s a whole chapter on TDD itself now), he puts it into the context of Business Central development specifically. He explains HOW you can use TDD in Business Central, he shows you step by step how to approach this, and he even provides a handy set of tools to support this methodology.

Luc spends a LOT of time writing about all aspects of TDD. More than just the nuts and bolts of creating test apps, he covers how to integrate automated tests in your daily development practice.

Advanced Topics

The brand new section called ‘Advanced Topics’ addresses some lesser known things such as refactoring your code to create more re-usable components, utilize standard components in more complex scenarios, the approach to testing web services and even how to make YOUR code more trestable.

In short, this second edition goes much more in-depth in just about every aspect of the book, plus it provides a wealth of information into a number of valuable topics that were not addressed in the first edition.

I am VERY proud to have played a part in writing this book, Luc did a phenomenal job in making the second edition a much more mature volume of THE book on automated testing in Business Central. Even if you already own the first edition, your money will not go to waste if you buy the second one.

Where can I get it?

Two places that I know of that you can get it:

  • The Packt Publishing website. Some people complain about delivery delays and such, but I don’t mind waiting a few days. When you get it from Packt directly, you have the option to have the book in print as well as e-book. The online reader on the Packt website is on of the best online readers I know. Plus with online access you can start reading right away, so to me well worth the handful of extra days for delivering the print book.
  • Amazon of course. Can’t beat delivery time, but Amazon does not bundle print + eBook and Packt does.

Uplifting Service – Book Review

In this book, Ron Kaufman lays out the steps you can take to build a sustainable culture that delivers outstanding service every day. He offers the tools and practices that have been proven effective in businesses, governments, communities, and homes. Through perspective-changing insights and case studies, you will learn how the world’s best performing companies have changed the game through service – and how you too can follow this proven path to an uplifting transformation. (from the book jacket back flap)

I saw the author at a business event called “Growth Summit“, where he was one of the main speakers. His session took all morning, so he was able to really drill down into his views on service culture. He spoke at length about the challenges of building a service culture at the Singapore airport, and how a proper service culture runs through the entire organization, not just the customer service department. Normally I don’t really enjoy ‘high-energy’ speakers that run around the stage and try to engage the audience, but this guy really spoke to me for some reason. It made total sense to me that a service oriented attitude will elevate the entire organization. It’s been a while since the event and since I’ve read the book, but I thought it could be helpful if you are thinking about improving your service culture.

The book takes you step by step through the process that Mr. Kaufman has designed. It starts by a bit of soul searching WHY you want to change the culture, and how to take the LEAD from all levels of the organization. It describes how to do a proper inventory of your business processes to BUILD a proper service language and vision for the company. Finally it describes to have a predictably high service level it takes effort to LEARN what makes your organization work and to DRIVE a continuous search for ever increasing service level.

The part that I always remember is what he calls the 6 levels of service. The video that I linked above is the first in a series, and he talks about the 6 levels of service in part 3, and it continues in part 4. Pay close attention to how service levels go down when you don’t work at keeping them up; what is unbelievable service today will be basic in the near future, as he explains in part 5.

Uplifting Service is another one of those books that can really inspire you to take action, but to really make an impact, you really need to bring in a consultant to help you through the process. I made a similar comment in my review of Scaling Up. Maybe there’s a pattern with these books that I’ve picked up at the Growth Summit :).

Service is a mindset, and it is a two way street. You give good service, you get good customers. Reading this book has helped me recognize organizations that do or don’t have it. Building a service culture takes a lot of effort, especially at a larger scale. This book may not have given me all the tools that I need, but it definitely helped me understand what it takes.

Scaling Up – Book Review

If your management is overwhelmed by all the ‘stuff’ that needs to be taken care of, and you want to focus on a few select things that matter most, this book can help you figure out what to focus on first, and how to prioritize the organizing principles in your organization. It takes a LOT of energy and an executive team that is 100% committed to implement though, so make sure that this is the right fit for your organization.

The author, Verne Harnish, runs a consulting company called Gazelles. This company focuses on ‘executive education’, and offers consulting services for growing companies. The book ‘Scaling Up‘ is the companion to Gazelle’s flagship corporate program, which helps owners and CEO’s navigate the growth of their businesses. A Gazelles coach will come in and guide the company to properly organize the pieces, using the book and some other tools, to get that job done. You could certainly just read the book and draw inspiration from it, but the real value comes from the advise you get from the coach.

Scaling Up distills a successful business into four major decision areas: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. For each of these decision areas, the book describes what they mean, why they are important, and what you can do to optimize each area. The theory is that if you get all four of these areas right, then success will be yours.

The book hits all the major self-evident aspects of modern business (the right people in the right place, everyone is accountable, focus on your niche, don’t get distracted, implement measurable KPI’s, etcetera). What I like about it is that it is structured well; it is very easy to follow but there is a lot of depth in each element of the program.

You can tell that the book is written with extensive experience behind it, but you do need the experience and knowledge of a coach to really understand what is behind the book. As a standalone book you might get a lot of inspiration for structuring your organization, but I don’t think it goes deep enough to really have a lot of value.

I also wanted to mention that Gazelles also organizes a number of events where a bunch of speakers, who all write books in the corporate world, come out and try to capture your imagination, buy their book and hopefully hire them to come help you implement what they write about. I’ve attended the ‘Growth Summit’ once, and I was impressed with the line-up of the speakers, and I was thoroughly inspired to take real action. For all you CEO’s out there – if you could use some inspiration, or if you want to do some real bonding with your executive team, I can definitely recommend attending one of the Gazelles events.

 

Been a While

It has been years since I last wrote, way back in 2012 to be exact, when I was writing for a former employer. When I left that job, I got caught up in my new work, and writing was no longer a priority for me, or I should say my work had me so busy that I just did not have any energy to write. A lot has happened since then – just to name a couple: we moved across the country to Flagstaff, Arizona; our kids both moved out and they are both in college. My current job has taken me back into the technical side of my work, and I’ve discovered that I have fallen well behind on current technologies. As I am catching up, I am the beneficiary of many people’s blogs and forum posts, and this is inspiring me to start writing again and share this knowledge.

To get this started, I re-published the most interesting articles that I’ve written for my former employer. These were all added December 22, 2015, and the original publish date are at the bottom of the article.

I am in the middle of re-working this website, so there will be some changes. The plan is to start with a focus mainly on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and I will expand into anything that I think is worth sharing. I’ll share articles that speak to me, like for instance this one by Bill Gates about his favorite books in 2015. I’ll share my thoughts about books, which can be newly discovered classics like Stephen Covey’s book about highly effective people, or more recent ones like Andrew Davis’s book ‘Brandscaping’. I saw Andrew at a business event last year, and he is a great speaker too.

Then there is the ever expanding list of things to figure out, such as how to make Windows shortcut keys work in VMWare Fusion on a MacBook, how to stop underscores to auto-format to italics (drove me absolutely crazy!), or where to find the Powershell ISE in Windows 8. Some of these things are surprisingly hard to figure out (for me at least), so hopefully sharing them will help some folks.

The goal is to make this website a body of knowledge of all the things that I pick up along the way. Hopefully it will be of some benefit for you, the reader, and if not then at least I can search this one site for stuff that I’ve collected. Enjoy the read and let me know what you think. Have a great day!