making of trailhead

The Making of Trailhead A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Creation of Salesforce’s Learning Platform

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What is ?

The fun, interactive way to learn Salesforce

●  Self-paced, online learning ●  Guided, learning paths ●  Modular, engaging content ●  Interactive assessments ●  Gamification

Learning Paths + Medals

= Trailhead

Trailhead: It Takes a Village

We were trying to solve a basic problem...

...so we decided to give you challenges...

…but I wanted a better challenge framework…

…which got redesigned, redone in ruby, woven into developer.salesforce.com, merged into Learning Paths, all in time for Dreamforce 2014…

We had about 10 weeks.

Learning Paths

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

●  Online Help ●  User Guides ●  Implementation Guides ●  Developer Guides ●  Workbooks ●  Cheat Sheets ●  API Reference

Too Much of a Good Thing

●  Information Overload ●  Lack of Guidance ●  Lack of Engagement

Urban Sprawl ➔ Urban Planning

The Dream of Trailhead : Customer Success

Learning Paths ➔ Trails

Trails For Beta Launch

Structure of Trailhead Content   Trail – like a course or book   Module – like a chapter in a book; 5-7 in each trail   Unit – like a section in a chapter; 5-10 in each module

•  Learning Objectives •  Content •  Resources •  Challenges

Feature-Centric

➔ User-Centric

Key Principle #1: Organize by Personas   Role

•  Admin •  Developer •  End User

  Level •  Beginner •  Intermediate •  Advanced

Key Principle #2: Use Learning Objectives •  Describe skills learners will gain on completion •  Short, specific, measurable, actionable •  Contract with the learner

Key Elements of a Learning Objective •  A: Audience •  B: Behavior •  C: Context

Key Principle #3: Tell A Story

“The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” – Mary Catherine Bateson

How to Tell A Story “Telling a good story is hard because it requires picking the right ideas, assessing their relevance, developing them into finer details and presenting them in the right order.” – Nacho Caballero

Credit: Nacho Caballero

Graphic: Nacho Caballero

Credit: Nacho Caballero

What’s a Module Anyway?   Structured container for information   Integration of concepts and tasks   Anything can be structured as a module

• How to cook spaghetti • How to repair a flat tire • How to run a marathon

Style Guidelines

  Learning objectives to guide selection of content   Simple, concise, informal style   Provide context based on a real-world use case   Integrate concepts and tasks   Use graphics, screenshots, and videos   Have fun and be creative!

Use Case Driven Writing “Everyone knows that being a detective is one of the coolest jobs that you can have. Well, hold on to your magnifying glass because your job as a Salesforce administrator is about to get a whole lot cooler. With event monitoring, you can be the investigator your organization always needed.” … “Say that a sales representative named Rob Burgle left your company a few weeks ago and joined a major competitor. All of a sudden, you start losing deals to this other company. You suspect that Mr. Burgle downloaded a report containing confidential lead information and shared it with his new employer. With event monitoring, you can gather all the evidence you need to set the story straight.” ...

Lifecycle of a Trailhead Module

Prototyping DF ‘14 3 trails, 11 modules

DF ‘15 13 trails, 60 modules

In Progress 20 trails, 100 modules

➔ Mass Production

11 MONTHS LATER... ●  1 Reorganization ●  10 New Trails ●  50 New Modules ●  45,000 Trailblazers ●  175,000 Badges Earned ...AND COUNTING

The People Behind Trailhead Getting the ball rolling   Reid Carlberg   Mike Rosenbaum

  Adam Seligman   Caroline Roth

  Nick Tran

Leadership   Sandeep Bhanot   Chris Duarte   Jacob Lehrbaum

  Pavi Sandhu   Kim Shain   Lisa Tenorio

Making things work   Steve Anderson

  Josh Birk   Tina Cessna

  Harshit Pandey   Mike Papper   Adam Purkiss

Making it look good Amanda Cheung Jazmina Opina

Cameron Reynolds-Flatt Domenique Sillett

Making it known Lauren Grau

Jessica Langston April Kyle Nassi

Creating challenges Josh Birk Peter Chittum

Christophe Coenraets Carol Franger Mario Korf Samantha Ready

Writing content Michael Alderete Sabine Bennett Mysti Berry Gina Blednyh Richard Boardman Michelle Chapman-Thurber Brian Donnelly Chris Duarte Katia Hage Justine Heritage Mario Korf Ari Langer Geri Rebstock Samantha Reynard Pavi Sandhu Erin Tidwell Richard Whitley Diana Widjaja

Introducing: Jeff Douglas

AND YOU

#ThankYouForTrailhead

Questions?

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