Lesson Learned 1: UI Modification

Problem:

You need to build a UI that is not supported by Salesforce’s built-in features.

Context:

The beauty of Salesforce is that it provides most of the features we need for inputting data, saving data, and generating reports. Therefore, we can develop complex applications with very reasonable effort (a few days). The disadvantage is that we must follow Salesforce’s UI, business, and data conventions for customization.

If we need to develop specific UIs that are not supported by Salesforce customization (for example, changing the position of the ‘Save’ button), then we must use the LWC framework. Development with the LWC framework requires significantly more effort (weeks or months) compared to using Salesforce’s built-in features.

Solution:

Carefully evaluate the costs and benefits before implementing something that is not supported by Salesforce’s built-in features.

Lesson Learned 2: Estimating Development Effort.

Problem:

You may incorrectly estimate the effort required to build a solution on the Salesforce platform.

Context:

Development on the Salesforce platform may not require much effort, but discovering the requirements through trial and error (e.g., business workflows, Conga templates, UI tweaking) and devising an appropriate solution (e.g., necessary apps, objects/fields, formulas, UIs, reports, Conga code, guides, data schema) can require substantial effort.

Solution:

Requirements and solution discovery are often the most challenging tasks, so you should allocate sufficient risk reserve for them in the development effort.