From his roots in technical roles to his current leadership overseeing global delivery operations, Maksym shares how he’s shaped FortéNext’s approach to delivery excellence, team structuring, and client-centric execution.
He explores how his day spans everything from firefighting project blockers to defining new service offerings - emphasizing that success in Salesforce delivery today is less about rigid playbooks and more about aligning deeply with client goals, adjusting to unique project contexts, and maintaining constant feedback loops.
Maksym also outlines how FortéNext balances flexibility in methodology (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid) with a commitment to clarity, transparency, and performance.
Whether it’s integrating with tight timelines, fixed budgets, or fluid scopes, his delivery leadership philosophy centers on earned trust, continuous improvement, and building the right team for every challenge.
Sure! I have a technical background and spent the first 12–15 years of my career working in hands-on roles, moving up from system administrator to team lead. Over time, I shifted towards project-based roles, taking on responsibilities as a project manager and product owner.
That transition eventually led me to positions focused on building efficient structures and teams capable of solving complex, cross-functional challenges within organizations.
What drew me to the CDO role at FortéNext was how well it aligned with the skills and experience I’d built over the years. It brought everything together - technical depth, strategic thinking, and a chance to work with clients from a variety of industries.
I was also excited to stay within the Salesforce ecosystem, where I’d spent the past 5–7 years before joining FortéNext.
My role goes far beyond just overseeing processes or managing a PMO. The most interesting part for me is designing and constantly adapting our internal processes, tools, contract templates, and service offerings to meet both client needs and company goals.
The market keeps evolving, clients are becoming more demanding, and AI is pushing all of us to become more efficient in order to stay competitive.
In many ways, it feels like that line from Lewis Carroll - you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in the same place. For us it’s rather “to make small but constant progress”. But I actually enjoy it.
That constant movement keeps things interesting, and the most meaningful validation of our efforts is the positive feedback we get from our clients. That’s how we know we’re on the right track.
I’d like to think the days when a lack of technical expertise in newer Salesforce Clouds could delay a project or make finding the best approach more time-consuming are mostly behind us.
Today, we take on complex projects with confidence. What really defines success now is how deeply we understand the client’s business - and how effectively we can propose options, based on our experience, that truly make sense for them.
While our experience across industries such as manufacturing and healthcare, and dozens of projects helps a lot, each client is unique - there’s no single playbook that works for everyone.
It's also important to remember that real success always comes from both sides: the team delivering the project and the client actively participating in the process.
Another key factor is the ability to hand-pick the right team for each project. Having the right business analyst, product owner, and technical lead with relevant expertise from day one gives us a strong foundation and builds confidence early on.
And finally, ongoing feedback is crucial - both within the internal team and in our communication loop with the client. That constant flow of input and adjustment is what helps keep us aligned, responsive, and consistently on track for success.
That’s an easy question to answer, but not always an easy one to execute. It often requires a high level of expertise and collaboration from both sides. Naturally, the client’s goals come first.
Once we understand them in enough detail, we map out the proposed solution architecture and implementation approach, aligning it with our internal standards and best practices.
Sometimes, this alignment happens smoothly. But sometimes when we see that certain aspects might not fit well or could require significantly more effort than originally expected, we bring those scenarios to the client’s attention.
We present alternative options and discuss together which path makes the most sense, balancing business objectives, implementation cost, and project timelines.
I wish I had something like a “typical day” (laughs). The reality is, it often takes just one unexpected issue in the morning to completely reshape the rest of my schedule. So instead of a typical day, I’d say there’s a typical set of responsibilities I cycle through:
There’s no silver bullet, and in reality, we don’t stick to a single delivery philosophy like Agile or Waterfall across all projects. Every engagement is different, and we adapt accordingly.
Sometimes the client needs a fixed-price model, which means we have to include a separate discovery phase to reduce uncertainty. Other times, timelines are tight but the project scope is still vague, so classic Waterfall won’t work. Or the client can’t commit to providing the team with steady input and feedback, which makes full-on Scrum unrealistic. The list goes on.
What we do promise is this: we’ll walk the client through the pros and cons of different approaches and work together to choose the delivery model that best fits the specific context of the project.
