Learn from Salesforce MVPs Judis Sohn and Will Norse how to design & build, and test a Salesforce application. Especially when to use clicks and when to use code
1. Bridging the Gap
Between Clicks & Code:
Communicating with Developers
Judi Sohn
KELL Partners
@JudiS217
Will Nourse
Cloud for Good
@wnourse
2. Safe Harbor
Safe harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If any such uncertainties materialize or if any of
the assumptions proves incorrect, the results of salesforce.com, inc. could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements we make. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including any projections of product or service
availability, subscriber growth, earnings, revenues, or other financial items and any statements regarding strategies or plans of management for future
operations, statements of belief, any statements concerning new, planned, or upgraded services or technology developments and customer contracts or use of
our services.
The risks and uncertainties referred to above include – but are not limited to – risks associated with developing and delivering new functionality for our service,
new products and services, our new business model, our past operating losses, possible fluctuations in our operating results and rate of growth, interruptions or
delays in our Web hosting, breach of our security measures, the outcome of any litigation, risks associated with completed and any possible mergers and
acquisitions, the immature market in which we operate, our relatively limited operating history, our ability to expand, retain, and motivate our employees and
manage our growth, new releases of our service and successful customer deployment, our limited history reselling non-salesforce.com products, and utilization
and selling to larger enterprise customers. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of salesforce.com, inc. is included in our
annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year and in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the most recent fiscal quarter. These documents and
others containing important disclosures are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Information section of our Web site.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other presentations, press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be
delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase our services should make the purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available.
Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
5. Why are we here?
• Learning to code takes time
• Communicating with people who code takes skill and practice
• Good code that doesn’t work is expensive
7. Clicks First
Make sure it has to be in code
• Evaluate your options:
– Visual Workflow vs Visualforce
– Workflow vs Trigger
– 3rd party tools vs Custom code
• Broaden your perspective
– Know what’s coming soon
– Become an expert on the platform, not just your job
8. Picture worth 1000 words
• Developers not Designers
• Pictures reduce ambiguity
• Useful for communicating with end-users as well
9. Don’t assume anything
Cover all the bases
• Like a game of telephone
• Map out the different scenarios
• Break complex functions down into smaller components
• Define ‘Else’ and Error Conditions
10. Don’t just throw it over the wall
• Treat it like building a house
• Schedule periodic reviews of work-in-progress
• Don’t rely on email or written documents alone
11. Plan for maintainability
• Things change - accept it and plan for it
• Use custom settings to store parameters
• Make everything modular
• It’s a lot easier to change with clicks than code
13. Have a multi-stage test strategy
• White box
– Initial tests of developer
– Weed out obvious errors
• Grey box
– Testing by you
– Know what to expect
– Use isolated sandbox
• Black box
– End user testing
– Usability and experience
– Validate assumptions
– Use integrated sandbox
14. Test with real world scenarios
• Use real data
• Use a recent real situation
15. Test with fresh eyes
• Tester shouldn't know what will happen before it does
• Developers are thinking about how to make it work
• A tester is thinking about how to break it
16. Document, document, document
• Step by step guides written for end users
– http://screenstepslive.com
• Database schema
– Gliffy/LucidChart
– Schema Builder
• Check for descriptions and help text in all new fields,
workflow rules, validation rules
• Catalog changes
– Use View Setup Audit Trail as a guide if needed
17. Save the code away from Salesforce
• Make sure developer gives repository of original code
• If using source control, make sure you have access
Editor's Notes
Key Takeaway:We are a publicly traded company. Please make your buying decisions only on the products commercially available from Salesforce.com.
Talk Track:
Before I begin, just a quick note that when considering future developments, whether by us or with any other solution provider, you should always base your purchasing decisions on what is currently available.
Tools:
Screen Layouts: Balsamiq Mockups, Excel, Visio, Draw.io
Flowcharts: Excel, Visio, Draw.io, Omnigraffle, Gliffy (not sure if you want these listed on the slide?)