You know, end of the project, someone has to write the installation and user guide. Usually not the most popular task to be around. I happily volunteer to write it, at least a first draft. There are a few reasons for it. - Final check- Find missing parts and bugs- Identify complicated things Final check …
Continue reading "Op-Ed: Why I like to write installation/user guides myself"
As any Salesforce (Architect) professional, having great Salesforce knowledge is mandatory. I found a few other skills are as important which are often overlooked while super easy to improve.All of the skills are less about learning and more about repeat practice.- Fast typing- English: Written and spoken- Office products- Clean drawing and handwriting- Project management basics- …
Continue reading "Op-Ed: Base skills as important as technical knowledge"
Target Group: ArchitectComplexity: HighTopic: Soft-Skills A few days ago I ended up chatting to Hugh Kapernaros, who travels as a clown in a circus for refugees through Europe. We came to work and what makes a good clown. I believe some of what makes a good clown makes me a better architect. 1) Surrender the …
Continue reading "5 learnings from a clown and how it can make me a better architect"
Recently I interviewed a software architect I highly respected on why architects should know code.The following is not a complete list or in any way representative of my opinion. It's absolutely not necessary to be a (good) coder to become a Salesforce architect, but I found the input very interesting. I'm curious what you think? …
Continue reading "Interview: Why architects should know code?"
Topic: Be as specific as possible in your criteria.Example: Every time a Lead is "Closed - Not Converted" we want to send an Email to the customer thanking them for the nice call despite not buying.Quite a simple requirement, we all have built them a thousand times. And I've built them wrong so often until I …
Continue reading "What happened OR Why $Record_Prior is my best friend"
The more I work in Salesforce, the more I appreciate vendors, admins, architects, and developers putting in the time and effort for good error messages.Error Message: "Type is required"Recently I worked with a complex flow. The flow has many elements, lots of objects, and many, many Invocable actions involved. One of the elements gave me …
Being a Salesforce Architect is quite a tough job, it's sandwiched between many different roles.Talking to experienced architects, I noticed one thing: An architect is a business analyst first, an architect second.What does that mean?1) First understand the business2) Architecture follows business3) Business value is the goal4) Working trumps perfect (to an extent)5) Bonus: Keep …
Continue reading "Op-Ed: Business Analyst First – Architect Second"
In case you want to extend your LinkedIn network or invite cool people for your next Salesforce event, a shortlist of a few awesome Salesforce people I love to learn from.What are your awesome Salesforce people to follow? Quratulain TariqNina RosenFarah Sherif GhanemNadina D. LisbonLilith Van BiesenMelissa ShepardNeha NagoriNana GreggNarender SinghMark JonesAbhishek SahaMaurizio GioffrèBen DuncombePei …
Continue reading "Extend your network – Awesome people to follow/invite"
Target Group: Admins, Developers, Architects Complexity: Simple This topic has been haunting me ever since Platform Events was introduced: Why not make async via Platform Events the default solution for transactions within the Salesforce platform? Let me start with a simple example:Every time an Opportunity is set to Closed-Won a set of Tasks needs to be …
Continue reading "Opinion: Async by default via Platform Events"
A few years ago I did a meditation class. This experience opened my eyes. The other participants were all in their late 30s, and early 40s. Doctors, architects, developers, managers. They looked healthy, super successful, and full in control but I learned all of them suffered from burnout. They described burnout as something horrific, something …
Continue reading "Architects take breaks OR Burnout: The underestimated risk"
