I must admit, I’m using AI more and more these days. It helps me in numerous ways, but the majority of the time, it’s with development.
Gemini Pro is pretty good with apex coding. With a few prompts, it can create or edit code fairly easily and accurately.… Read the rest
While I was on vacation recently, a friend of mine joined me. This was a remote location, and my friend had to work. So he brought his laptop.
But he also brought a portable monitor. I must have been living under a rock, because I never knew these things existed!… Read the rest
When building a Salesforce package, there are two ways to create and maintain them: 1GP and 2GP.
1GP uses a development org as the source of truth. Most consultants are very familiar with this way of working. You typically start in a DEV sandbox for development, then migrate changes to a UAT sandbox for testing, and finally to production.… Read the rest
While it’s easy to say, “You should improve your soft skills”, what does that actually mean? How does one go about improving them?
Since soft skills are mostly about building relationships with others, we can then substitute the question to, “How can you build genuine relationships?”… Read the rest
Knowing the technical bits of Salesforce will only get you so far. And AI is eating up that space with each passing day.
So focusing on your soft skills is critical. In addition, they’ll separate you from your competition.
Let’s start by understanding what exactly are soft skills.… Read the rest
Given where Salesforce is headed, there are some things we can do.
As the title “Salesforce consultant” states, we depend on Salesforce for our livelihood. But we are also consultants.
This means there are a number of needed skills that are independent of Salesforce.… Read the rest
During my two week hiatus from these emails, I stopped talking and listened more.
One recurring theme in particular caught my attention: Salesforce is not the company it once was.
This theme presented itself in multiple ways:
As I’ve said several times, our careers are based on a single platform.… Read the rest
When designing long flows or apex, it may make sense to break things up.
One approach is to keep things modular. But then the question becomes, where to break up the logic?
Let’s say when A happens, do B, C, and D.… Read the rest
While AI may not be a full replacement of a good developer, it can still help in some instances.
Using the prompt, “Write a Salesforce LWC that allows users to edit a field”, Gemini Pro actually built a working lightning web component (LWC).… Read the rest
You may not have known this, but in a previous life, I was a software developer.
It’s been years since I’ve developed, so I’m not an expert in apex. There are far too many awesome developers out there, and I lean on them for help.… Read the rest
In Salesforce, building a future-looking data model is important. You generally want to anticipate issues before they occur.
One consideration that is overlooked is when a parent record has too many child records. Or when one user owns too many of the same records.… Read the rest
Both Lookup fields and Master-Detail fields create a one-to-many relationship. This means the parent object can have multiple children. However a child cannot have multiple parents.
To allow the parent to have multiple children and the children to have multiple parents, a many-to-many relationship is needed.… Read the rest
When associating objects with each other, there are two main choices: Lookup fields vs Master-Details fields.
Here are some considerations for these two:
Master-Detail fields
These fields create a strong connection between two objects. The field is created on the “detail” object, and points to the “master” object.… Read the rest
One of the services I provide is technical debt assessment. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been called in to help a client who is frustrated with their Salesforce implementation. I cannot tell you because the number is too damn high.… Read the rest
So you’ve rightly decided to have the home page as the 1st tab in your app. But what should be displayed on this page?
The out-of-the-box home page isn’t sexy at all. It’s a bunch of random widgets that are not usually related to your client’s needs.… Read the rest
When preparing to create a new app in Salesforce, the first step is to determine your audience. Each app should have a specific audience in mind.
For small orgs, one or two apps may be sufficient. But for larger ones, you’ll probably want several.… Read the rest
Let’s cut to the chase. Just because you can create a tab for every custom object you create, doesn’t mean you should.
The question then becomes, when should you and when shouldn’t you? Here are some questions to help you answer that question.… Read the rest
Let’s say you’ve decided to create a custom object and use an autonumber as the data type for the record name. The next decisions are, what should be the naming convention for the record name and display format.
Record Name
The most commonly used record names have either “Name” or “Number” (or “#”) in it.… Read the rest
When creating a custom object, you have two choices for the Record Name: text and autonumber. What principles can you use to determine which one is best?
Consider the following:
1. Uniqueness
If you want the field to be unique, use an autonumber, since uniqueness cannot be enforced with text.… Read the rest
When creating your data model, there are several principles that can be used. One of them is the KISS method: Keep it Super Simple (which is a better alternative than Keep it Simple, Stupid).
Here are some considerations when applying this principle:
Standard Objects
When the functionality you’re trying to build fits about 80% of the existing data model and built-in functionality.… Read the rest
It’s very rare that I don’t discuss Salesforce in these emails. After all, that was my promise to you and the reason you signed up for these emails.
However, tomorrow is a very personal day for me. I will be participating in the Relay for Life.… Read the rest
Today is day 1 of Montreal Dreamin. Overall, this year’s event was much better organized than last year. The organizers learned what works and what doesn’t, and then made the necessary changes.
As a speaker, I was able to share how Salesforce freelancers can escape the limits of hourly billing and unlock their full value.… Read the rest
When discussing the recent documentation emails with a colleague today, he mentioned Confluence.
This was a great callout, since when you hear the words “design document”, you usually think about MS Word or Google Docs.
Now, both these solutions work well, as long as they are stored in the cloud.… Read the rest
A reader responded to yesterday’s email about which way to write documentation is the best, or at least which is my preferred way.
The short answer is, whichever way people will actually adopt.
You can write the best documentation on the planet, but if no one updates it after you leave, it’s effectively useless.… Read the rest
There are only a handful of popular ways to document Salesforce. Here are three for your consideration.
1. Design document
Your team usually needs precise instructions on how to configure the platform. A design document, usually written in Google Docs or MS Word, is a common way to communicate these instructions.… Read the rest
Client’s typically don’t use Salesforce to send mass emails. There are lots of good options for mass emailers out there, ones with significantly more features than what Salesforce offers.
However, there are legitimate use cases to just use Salesforce. Two of those are cost and technical simplicity.… Read the rest
A number of readers commented after yesterday’s email about guidelines for helptext. They felt the only thing missing were some examples.
Not wanting to disappoint, here are a few.
Acknowledgement Date
Original: Date of acknowledgement
Better: Date the donation was acknowledged.… Read the rest
When creating fields, it’s best practice to always add a description. Sometimes it’s also a good idea to add helptext. The question becomes, when should you add helptext and what should you write?
To start, here are some samples of what not to write.… Read the rest
Continuing yesterday’s email about keeping the client in mind during implementation…
4. Consistency
There are multiple ways of building something with consistency.
– If you’re taking over an existing platform, use the client’s existing approach. My philosophy is, if you’ve built it wrong, it’s better to be consistently wrong (with some caveats).… Read the rest
When you’re implementing a project or feature for a client, there are some important considerations.
Here are a few to keep in mind.
1. Ease of understanding
As a consultant, you spend countless hours looking at Salesforce. You understand how it works, how to find things, and what to do when things go wrong.… Read the rest