Field Notes · Keeping it clean

Keeping a Salesforce Org clean

"If we clean up now, won't it just get dirty again?" Yes. Every Org collects residue, no matter how good the governance. The goal is an Org that can be cleaned faster than it gets dirty. These field notes cover maintenance plans, capacity, ownership and why cleanup deserves its own track.

“Won't it just get dirty again?”

15 field notes on keeping it clean

Keeping it clean · 1 min

Org Cleaning is part of Well-Architected

The Well-Architected Framework went from 3 pillars to 5. Translation: Running a clean Org is now officially architecture.

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Cleanup should be simple. That's the whole point of it

Whenever a cleanup initiative needs the company's best architects, months of planning, and multiple steering committees, it's not simple anymore, and it's not really cleanup. It's something…

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

"Well Run Orgs" onto the Stage

Everyone races toward more AI but there is another frontier just as important, and it barely has a stage. Running an Org well, the whole package, from right sized Architecture to UX people…

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

"If we clean up now, won't it just get dirty again?" -> Yes

... but that's not a reason to skip cleaning. Every factory shop floor gets dirty throughout a shift. The mess is a byproduct of work getting done.

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Dirty processes are okay. A dirty Org is not

“Before we fix Salesforce, we first need to clean up the business processes.”

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Is "Clean as you go" really good Salesforce cleaning discipline? I say NO

Every senior developer will tell you: Clean as you go. Touch a class, leave it better than you found it. It's practically a professional virtue. I strongly disagree!

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Five Things Bikepacking Taught Me About Salesforce Cleanup

As it's summer tradition, a LinkedIn post from my bike tours. This year we bike from camping ground to camping ground in Brandenburg, Germany. A few learnings along the way :-).

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Every Salesforce leader believes the same thing: get Governance right, and the mess stops

Better naming conventions, stricter change management, a Center of Excellence with a nice slide deck, enforce the rules hard enough and the Org stays clean on its own.

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Keeping it clean · 2 min

Let’s learn from our IT forefathers - Treat Maintenance as Primary Task!

In a recent conversation with Fabrice Cathala, we talked about a glaring blind spot in our industry. To traditional Systems Engineers, the technical debt we are dealing with right now is…

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Why Salesforce Cleanup is Like Brushing Your Teeth

You don’t sit down with a spreadsheet every morning to calculate the ROI of brushing your teeth.

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Your Salesforce Org Needs a Maintenance Plan

When I was young, I spent a few summers working on a factory floor. That is where I learned how seriously maintenance plans are taken when machines actually matter.

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Leaving Your Org Better Than You Found It

You don’t need a mandate to leave an Org better than you found it. You can make the org a better place if you want to, just do it.

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

We got really good at building Salesforce

We're still bad at managing what we built.

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Keeping it clean · 1 min

Build for the Admin Who Comes After You

Even if you built the org today as part of a 50-person digital transformation, think about who will be running it in five years.

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Keeping it clean · 2 min

Don’t cheap out on your Salesforce maintenance team

Cautionary Tale Part 2: The "Million-Dollar Engine" with a $5 Toolbox.

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