Why spend 90% in upfront work

This article is to provide some observations on a tool from Elements on Salesforce change methodologies and reference materials from both Salesforce and 10k advisors (hired 3rd party for survey)on the impact of using a structured approach to changing a systems configuration.  

Listening to Gillian Bruce’s admin podcast has shed a light on key elements on how to approach a project.  One of the most impactful was her conversation with Adam Doti on spending 90% of your time upfront planning and getting people aligned mapping out first then 10% of your time in the app.   Since that episode I have been experimenting with different tools to help and I have created an infographic on the Elements tool to give a simple overview. 

I have used the Elements tool now for a few weeks on three projects and below I have listed some highlights for me.

1)    End user can request changes in Salesforce directly from an object that goes into a request queue in Elements

2)    Each request has specification, user story & risk analysis features as a designer works on proposals to the request

3)    Documentation, notes, links  can be attached

4)    VPN diagrams can be created in the tool

5)    Process flows using VPN can be created,  users impacted with both story and spec, with drill down capability for more complex process flows

6)    Quick Organizational analysis from log ins to permission sets to process flows to validation rules etc a long list of analytical features to see what is and a tree analysis on what your proposed changes will impact

What is fundamental for me is that the design is such following a logical four phase approach which is always taking cross functional user’s inputs as requests then analyzing impact across the organization.  The four stages are  Adoption,  Business Analysis, Impact Analysis, Org documentation.  I have included these in the infographic.

I also listed some research on companies that implement a structured approach following a COE center of excellence see a higher ROI than those who do not use a structured approach for reference.

Below is the link to the admin podcast and the transcript of the 90% upfront reference.https://admin.salesforce.com/blog/2021/design-thinking-for-admins-with-adam-doti-podcast

Gillian Bruce: Yeah. When you talk about that, it actually really reminds me of the idea of process mapping. We talked about, many years ago, I think Mark Bazan and I did a session of the process before the process builder. And it’s a similar concept of, 90% of the work actually happens before you get into the app, because you got to ask the questions, you got to do the research, you got to map out what this could be. And then you’re like, okay, now I have this whole model out. Let’s just go build it in Salesforce real quick. Like that I think and that is so in the admin skillset, wheelhouse. And I think the more we focus on that and continue to try and help develop those skills across the ecosystem, the better off we will be. And I think that it’s always so important to remember that pre-work, before just adding the checkbox, if somebody asked you, let’s ask some questions before we do that.

Adam Doti: Yep. Absolutely.