Managing technical debt in Salesforce is a critical aspect of maintaining a scalable and efficient CRM system. Over time, quick fixes, outdated customizations, and neglected code can accumulate, leading to performance issues and stifling innovation.

Understanding how to manage technical debt in Salesforce enables teams to address these challenges proactively, ensuring the platform remains adaptable to changing business needs. In this guide, we’ll explore actionable strategies to identify, prioritize, and reduce technical debt, empowering your organization to maximize the value of your Salesforce investment.

Technical debt is the cost of defects and additional work that is required due to the fact that a quicker and easier solution was implemented instead of the best solution which would have taken more time. It is also referred to as a concept called “Shift Left” which means that the earlier you identify an issue the easier and cheaper it is to solve it.

It is therefore important to understand that taking technical debt in your Salesforce system is not the end of the world – it is inevitable. Like any debt, if paid back, it can help in preventing the accumulation of ‘interest’ that will ultimately harm the organization’s agility.

Developers used to worry about debt arising from taking shortcuts, in code; now with platforms, like Salesforce that use low code approaches technical debt can also stem from the actions taken through “clicking” rather than just writing code.

What Is Salesforce Technical Debt?

When technical debt accumulates it refers to the work needed due to opting for a solution without fully grasping the business needs rather than investing time in a more thorough approach from the start.

Technical debt can also indicate solutions that were originally designed to function in a manner but have had to adapt over time due to changing business requirements (such as incorporating adjustments).

The general understanding of debt is when modifications were done in the past to adapt code or declarative elements to situations where standard features were not suitable or accessible.

What Causes Technical Debt in Salesforce?

Several factors contribute to the buildup of technical debt within Salesforce environments:

1. Evolving Business Requirements: As companies expand and evolve their operations over time the solutions they once put in place may no longer fit the bill. Than revamping these solutions from scratch they often resort to temporary fixes that end up creating a jumbled system adding more technical complications, in the long run.
2. Excessive Customizations: Salesforces flexibility offers the opportunity for customization possibilities; however excessive customization—like developing unnecessary custom elements or resorting to coding instead of utilizing declarative tools—can lead to system complications that make maintenance and updates more challenging.
3. Inadequate Documentation: Neglect to document any changes or personalized settings leads to missing information gaps that could cause issues down the line when making updates in the system without a grasp of the current setup, by new team members or administrators.
4. Time Constraints and Business Pressures: Teams frequently face pressure to deploy solutions quickly leading to rushed implementations lacking testing and optimization which may result in accumulating technical debt over time.
5. Lack of Governance and Best Practices: Without a structured approach to development and a clear set of best practices, inconsistent methods emerge. This inconsistency leads to inefficient processes and increased technical debt.
6. Deferred Maintenance and Refactoring: Postponing necessary updates or code refactoring allows issues to compound, making future changes more complex and costly. This delay exacerbates technical debt.
7. Insufficient Testing: Lack of comprehensive testing frameworks can result in undetected errors and unstable features, contributing to technical debt.

It’s crucial to tackle these aspects on to keep technical debt at bay. By enforcing governance practices and keeping detailed documentation while following industry standards and setting aside time for routine system evaluations can help in controlling and diminishing technical debt. This approach guarantees that the platform stays effective and flexible to meet the changing demands of the business.

Examples of Technical Debt in Salesforce

1. Hard-Coded References: Embedding specific values or URLs directly into code or configurations can create rigid dependencies. For instance, using a specific Salesforce instance URL (e.g., na1.salesforce.com) instead of a dynamic reference (<yourdomain>.my.salesforce.com) can cause issues during instance refreshes or migrations, leading to broken links and integration failures.
2. Unused Validation Rules and Workflows: As business methods progress and change over the years, some validation rules or automated workflows might no longer be necessary. Keeping these unused elements in the system contributes to unnecessary intricacy and may bewilder administrators and developers, ultimately elevating the chances of errors in alterations.
3. Excessive Customization: Creating numerous custom objects, fields, or code-based solutions without proper governance can lead to a convoluted system architecture. For example, developing a custom Visualforce component to display opportunity stages when Salesforce’s standard Sales Path feature could suffice results in redundant functionality that complicates maintenance.
4. Outdated Reports and Dashboards: When an organization’s focus changes over time, some reports and dashboards may become unnecessary. Keeping these outdated tools can clutter the interface causing confusion for users and reducing the systems usability.
5. Redundant Code and Automation: Implementing multiple automation tools (e.g., Workflow Rules, Process Builder, Apex Triggers) to handle similar processes can create conflicts and inefficiencies. For instance, having overlapping automation on a single object without proper coordination can lead to recursion issues and unpredictable system behavior.

How to tackle Technical Debt?

Here are several strategies to tackle technical debt in Salesforce:

1. Establish a Salesforce Center of Excellence (CoE)

Establish a team tasked with setting guidelines and regulations that uphold standards and best practices consistently across the board. This structured method guarantees uniform decision making and supervision to minimize the risk of incurring excessive technical debt.

2. Integrate Technical Debt Management into Release Planning

Make sure to set aside resources and time in each release cycle to deal with any technical debt that has built up over time. By consistently including repayment of debt, as part of your development process you can avoid letting it pile up and reduce the chances of encountering system problems down the line.

3. Conduct Regular Audits and Code Reviews

Make sure to review your Salesforce setup to spot and fix any unnecessary or duplicated customizations that may be causing inefficiencies or issues in your system performance. Don’t forget that conducting code evaluations is crucial, for upholding top notch standards and avoiding the accrual of new technical debt in your platform.

4. Prioritize Declarative Solutions Over Custom Code

Leverage Salesforce’s point-and-click tools, such as Flow and Process Builder, to implement business processes. Relying on declarative solutions reduces complexity and maintenance overhead associated with custom code.

5. Maintain Comprehensive Documentation

Ensure all customizations, processes, and integrations are thoroughly documented. Accessible documentation facilitates easier maintenance and onboarding, reducing the risk of technical debt due to knowledge gaps.

6. Implement a Robust Change Management Process

Establish clear protocols for proposing, reviewing, and approving changes within the Salesforce environment. A structured change management process minimizes the risk of introducing technical debt through unvetted modifications.

7. Educate and Train Your Team

Make sure to provide training to your administrators and developers so they can stay informed, about the latest Salesforce best practices and platform updates helping them make well informed decisions to avoid accruement of technical debt.

By following these approaches and tactics​ organizations can efficiently. Diminish technical debt, within their Salesforce setups​ to maintain a strong​ly​ operational and adaptable platform that meets the changing requirements of the business.