Brent Dawson is the author of Becoming a Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Solution Architect, we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Brent: Dynamics 365 ERP Architecture, Ethics in IT, Enterprise and Solution Architecture.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Brent: I’ve always wanted to write a book. A friend of mine, who was already working with Packt asked me if I was interested in writing a D365 ERP architecture book and I jumped at the opportunity.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Brent: As this book was more or less geared to what I do on a daily basis for my work, there wasn’t a lot of research that went into it ahead of time. I had to look up specifics as I was writing, but prep was pretty straight forward.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process?
Brent: Time. Carving out time to write was always a challenge. Between my day job, teaching, doing my Master’s Degree, and a new relationship, time was always an issue.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Brent: The technology is going to grow by leaps over the next few years. Microsoft has put a ton of development into their ERP product and it’s becoming very popular in the market. I only seeing it’s install base increasing.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Brent: Well, there really isn’t a book like this on the market already. The book is written from my point of view with my observations and experiences. If there was one thing I did research, it was how many other books like this existed, and honestly, I didn’t find any.
Q. What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away from the book with?
Brent: In the book I try to get the reader to come away with three things: 1) what it takes to be a successful ERP architect, 2) what are some of the difficult areas in a project and how to navigate through them, and 3) how to successfully run and deploy an ERP system.
Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Brent: Before you become an SA, you need to have experience as a functional consultant. Know how the system works and now it works with other systems. Experience is the key.
Q. Can you share any blogs, websites, and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Brent: Here you go- https://dynamicsaxinsight.com/
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Brent: Packt was wonderful to work with. The editor that I had gave some really good ideas that I implemented into the text. I would highly recommend Packt if you want to write a tech book.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Brent: I’m involved in a few UK ERP groups and speaking at several different D365 conferences.
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Michael: The site that I use the most for D365 ERP products is MS Dynamics World – https://msdynamicsworld.com/
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Brent: As much as possible, I tried to do writing first thing in the morning before my normal day started. But usually, I would spend an entire Sunday working on a chapter.
Q. What is the one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Brent: The one thing I can recommend is to write something every day. Even if you don’t use it, at least get something down on paper.
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.
Brent: Here is my Linkedin.
You can find Brent’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
