A few weeks ago I was part of a rather interesting conversation about Salesforce Governance: what it is, what does it entail, how to handle it.
It was thanks to what’s known as SAIMA Group (breaking down the acronym here: Salesforce Architects In The Making).
If how things are constructed interests you, the lens on redundancy, scalability, resilience, spanning beyond a single application are things you have on your mind, then I highly recommend this group: https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-pxfbnzxr/
It’s organised by Lilith Van Biesen, Neha Nagori, Meera R Nair, Jayesh Tejwani, Gaurav Kheterpal and Johann Furmann.
So I wanted to share here some thoughts on the subject of Salesforce Governance.
The term
As good philosophers we should start with definitions, so that we can level the playing field, so that we all have similar understanding of what we are talking about.
“Governance is the process of interactions through the norms of an organised society (group) over their social system. It is done by a network.“
To me Agile Governance is about defining the fastest route that brings the most value (which also includes the ability to integrate the unexpected: decouple, KISS etc).
The aim is to: reduce noise, reduce waste. When I say ‘waste’ think of it broadly, as of time, effort, energy, materials, etc…
And you can do this mainly by combining 2 things:
– Focus on what matters
– Fastest route to most return
Classical build vs. buy dilemma
Dilemma? Like with any decision, what I find that helps is to make the facts visually structured to assist you in making an informed decision.
So let’s say here we are looking at a solution to help us comply with FIHR structure requirements. We should ask ourselves: What are our variables regardless of the solution?
Plot them on the left of a matrix:
- Latest version data structure
- HIPAA compliance
- Speed updates
- Maintenance weight
- Configuration flexibility
- Cost (all: effort, vendor, data storage…)
Once you have clarity on what you are after then go and look at options. For example:
In line with the scenario above, maybe we look at pulling structure directly from FIHR updates and updating with XML extraction our metadata.
OR existing vendors applications (no promo here).
OR something in between like Health Cloud.
Then fill your matrix, highlight as a team the challenges and benefits, and ultimately make a decision.
** More on Superpower your conversations with Visuals? > Catch up on this session from London’s Calling 
https://youtu.be/cDSZsX_pcO4
Org Strategy
How does Org Strategy simplify or complicate governance? My first question here would be is ‘Org’ as an instance or organisational?
Regardless, one thing is often produced and then forgot about are ‘stakeholder maps’ you can do so at Org(s) level. Who has a stake? You/devs/community also have a stake (don’t forget!)
In this map do include related applications and influence (beyond job roles and even beyond humans :O)
As the tendency of human nature dictates, we have obsessed for decades on its components, on the details. As a result, all too often, we focus on minute details, and miss the whole picture. Depicting these wider pictures such as with maps enable us to determine impact, giving us context and surfacing constrains.
So the strategy you craft could simplify or complicate ‘governance’, while perhaps the aim is to evolve it. Try creating area maps of your systems (human systems too) side by side, then think about how different systems communicate with each other.
The aim for any artefact all along is to Clarify And Simplify The Decision Making Process:
– About your business
– How can you induce short feedback loops to periodically adjust structures to ensure they serve your strategy to adjust strategy in line with market needs, and
– How all of it is as simple as possible.
How can you infuse resilience, for example through diversity and redundancy? One way could be by infusing vertex support, going beyond a single point of failure.
So what is your take? How do you approach it? What advice would you give to your past-self?
Interested to expand in the subject? Catch up on previous related entries:
Snippet about my top 4 Key Team Governance Metrics
How to Improve Salesforce Development & Delivery
What is Salesforce DevOps?! Part 1
What is Salesforce DevOps?! Part 2
Free course on Agile Salesforce.
Here you catch up with the SAIMA Governance session: