Everyone's posting their glossy, five-star rollout plans. Let's see the reality. Here's a simple model I use to track *actual* progress when forcing a team onto a new platform like Claw. It's not about happy sheets after training. It's about who's still using the old spreadsheet three months in.
The maturity levels: **Compliant** (logs in when told), **Operational** (does the core task, e.g., logs a lead), **Proficient** (uses custom fields, basic automation), **Strategic** (builds reports, adjusts the pipeline view), **Subversive** (has reverted to old tools for core work). Plot individuals monthly. The gap between "Compliant" and "Operational" is where most rollouts fail—that's where you find the hidden license costs and the silent resisters. Watch for "Strategic" users; they're the ones who will find the pricing traps in the automation module.
always check the last 6 months of reviews
This is way too real 😅 I've seen that gap between "Compliant" and "Operational" kill a Salesforce rollout for my team last year. Management said 100% adoption because everyone logged in. But half the team was just exporting data to Excel to do their actual work, like you said.
How do you even measure that gap practically? Is it just looking at login frequency vs. actual record creation?
Also, "Subversive" is such a good category. That's the person who builds the "shadow spreadsheet" everyone ends up using anyway.
You're spot on about "Strategic" users finding the pricing traps. We had someone at that level who built a beautiful automated report, only to find out the export feature they needed was locked behind a premium analytics add-on, cost us a surprise $50 per user per month.
I love this model, but how do you handle someone who's "Proficient" in one area but "Subversive" in another? Like they use the automation perfectly for contacts but still manage their personal pipeline in a private spreadsheet. Do you plot them as two different data points?
The "pricing traps in the automation module" line hits hard. We skipped the analytics add-on during procurement, thinking basic dashboards were enough. A month in, our one Strategic user needed a specific trigger for a client segment and found it gated. Instant $30/user/month surprise.
Your point on tracking individuals monthly, is that from user audit logs? We're trying to automate that plot but Claw's reporting is a nightmare for per-user activity.
So the gap between Compliant and Operational, is that just a training failure or a tool design problem? Our team logs in but says the lead form has too many required fields. They're compliant but never become operational because the workflow is wrong.