037 — Kevin Boyle: Growing Gearset, the CEO's Story!

08/08/24 • 45 min

Kevin Boyle, CEO of Gearset, joins Jack on this episode of DevOps Diaries. Kevin’s career has taken him from software engineering intern at Microsoft, to leading one of the most successful Salesforce ISV’s as CEO. His background gives him a unique approach to running a business, with a foundation of great software engineering and product strategy.
Kevin & Jack discuss the origin story of Gearset and how it has grown over the years. They also talk about the intricate challenges of implementing DevOps practices in the Salesforce ecosystem and how Gearset has developed features to address those challenges.
Kevin emphasizes the importance of understanding the users' needs and continuously iterating, one of the core principles of DevOps itself, to improve the Gearset platform. He also shares his experience transitioning from a software engineer to a CEO and applying software engineering principles to other areas of business.
Kevin discusses the importance of continuous iteration and feedback in product development. He shares how the onboarding process at Gearset empowers employees to develop this mindset.
Kevin is passionate about the value of equipping Salesforce teams with the right tools to be successful in their jobs. He talks about some of the proud moments he’s had as CEO — expressing gratitude for the team and the positive feedback from customers.
Learn more:
Gearset revolutionizes Salesforce DevOps with new features
Manage long term projects in your CI/CD pipeline
Why DevOps toolchains need purpose build solutions
Five ways to improve your Salesforce DevOps strategy
About DevOps Diaries:
Salesforce DevOps Advocate Jack McCurdy chats to members of the Salesforce community about their experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. Expect to hear and learn from inspirational stories of personal growth and business success, whilst discovering all the trials, tribulations, and joy that comes with delivering Salesforce for companies of all shapes and sizes. New episodes bi-weekly on YouTube and your preferred podcast platform.
Podcast produced and sponsored by Gearset. Learn more about Gearset.
Subscribe to Gearset's YouTube channel.
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/gearset
Facebook: https://facebook.com/gearsethq
About Gearset:
We launched Gearset when we saw how lackluster DevOps was preventing teams from taking full advantage of Salesforce. We’d experienced first-hand how Salesforce allowed anyone to become a Trailblazer and build amazing apps, but then left you stranded, with only change sets or complex command lines to get your work to users. Gearset makes DevOps on Salesforce as simple as everything else on Salesforce. Get full access to all of Gearset's features for free with a 30-day trial.

Previous Episode

036 — Daisy Garcia & Hannah Kahn: Women, give yourself permission to fail and learn!

Jack is joined by Daisy Garcia, CEO and founder of ImagineCRM, and Hannah Kahn, CRO at ImagineCRM. Daisy and Hannah share a love for philanthropy, and driving foundations and nonprofits to success through technology. Their love for their mission is equal to their passion for uplifting women in tech.
In this episode of DevOps Diaries, Hannah & Daisy discuss their experiences as women in tech, and how to support other women in the industry — including what they’ve done for each other. They share their diverse backgrounds and career paths, highlighting the importance of networking and mentorship.
Throughout the episode they emphasize the need for women to support each other and create opportunities for one another. The conversation also touches on the challenges women face in leadership roles and the importance of authenticity and vulnerability.
They wrap the episode with advice for attendees of the WITness Success, highlighting how to maximize their experience with networking opportunities that can be created intentionally.
Learn more:
ImagineCRM
Witness Success
Women in Salesforce DevOps, ignite your career
Bring your full self — Rebecca’s experience as a UX Intern
Join the women in Salesforce DevOps community
About DevOps Diaries:
Salesforce DevOps Advocate Jack McCurdy chats to members of the Salesforce community about their experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. Expect to hear and learn from inspirational stories of personal growth and business success, whilst discovering all the trials, tribulations, and joy that comes with delivering Salesforce for companies of all shapes and sizes. New episodes bi-weekly on YouTube as well as on your preferred podcast platform.
Podcast produced and sponsored by Gearset. Learn more about Gearset.
Subscribe to Gearset's YouTube channel
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/gearset
X/Twitter: https://x.com/GearsetHQ
Facebook: https://facebook.com/gearsethq
About Gearset:
We launched Gearset when we saw how lackluster DevOps was preventing teams from taking full advantage of Salesforce. We’d experienced first-hand how Salesforce allowed anyone to become a Trailblazer and build amazing apps, but then left you stranded, with only change sets or complex command lines to get your work to users. Gearset makes DevOps on Salesforce as simple as everything else on Salesforce. Get full access to all of Gearset's features for free with a 30-day trial.

Next Episode

038 — Julián Duque: How to use Heroku for connected customer experiences!

Julián Duque is Principal Developer Advocate for Heroku at Salesforce. His background in Node.js allows him to think objectively about development on the Salesforce platform and how it scales. His work with Heroku gives him a unique perspective on where traditional software engineering, DevOps, and Salesforce development intersects.
In this episode, Julián and Jack discuss the importance of community in software development. Julián dives into how his career has developed in the Developer Relations space, and how sharing knowledge benefits the teacher and the student, building great relationships.
Julián teaches Jack what Heroku is, and shares some of the common applications. He explains how Heroku benefits Salesforce teams, and provides the foundation for integrating applications, enabling one source of truth for data so businesses can make data-driven decisions across their tech stacks.
Heroku is constantly evolving. Julián sheds light on the future roadmap, why he’s excited for the future of Salesforce and what we’ll be achieving with new technologies.
Learn more

Build applications with Heroku
Where to find Gearset at Dreamforce
How Gearset integrates with your tech stack
Salesforce DevOps for Data Cloud
About DevOps Diaries

Salesforce DevOps Advocate Jack McCurdy chats to members of the Salesforce community about their experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. Expect to hear and learn from inspirational stories of personal growth and business success, whilst discovering all the trials, tribulations, and joy that comes with delivering Salesforce for companies of all shapes and sizes. New episodes bi-weekly on YouTube as well as on your preferred podcast platform.
Podcast produced and sponsored by Gearset. Learn more about Gearset.
Subscribe to Gearset's YouTube channel.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/gearset
Facebook: facebook.com/gearsethq
About Gearset

Gearset is the leading Salesforce DevOps platform, with powerful solutions for metadata and CPQ deployments, CI/CD, automated testing, sandbox seeding and backups. It helps Salesforce teams apply DevOps best practices to their development and release process, so they can rapidly and securely deliver higher-quality projects. Get full access to all of Gearset's features for free with a 30-day trial.
Chapters:

00:00 Get to know Julián
09:09 The Importance of Community in Software Development
19:38 What is Heroku?
24:09 Integrating Salesforce & Heroku
32:54 Common Use Cases for Heroku
36:25 The Future of Heroku: Next-Generation Platform
46:02 Advice for Developers Transitioning to Heroku