We got really good at building Salesforce

We're still bad at managing what we built.

Architecture has gotten genuinely good. Well-Architected is now standard practice, and I haven't seen a badly architected Org at scale in a long time. That problem is mostly solved.

So why are we suddenly seeing so many new tools around metadata analysis, regression testing, and Org cleanup?

Because solid architecture doesn't stop complexity from piling up. Five years in, even a well-built Org accumulates Fields nobody remembers creating, Flows nobody dares touch, and Permission Sets that made sense once and now make sense to no one. Architecture tells you how to build it right. It doesn't manage what happens after.

That's the gap this whole new wave of tooling and initiatives is circling. Some are attacking it through regression testing. Some through metadata analysis at scale. Some come at it through cleanup.

Different entry points, same realization: the last wave was building it right. This wave is managing what you already built.