Dreamforce 2021 for Business Analysts

True to the Core Panel (L-R): Salesforce Chief Product Officer David Schmaier; President and Chief Operations Officer Bret Taylor; Co-founder and CTO Parker Harris

Dreamforce to the Core

Salesforce has wrapped up another Dreamforce, exciting attendees with ideas like digital headquarters, building more with clicks, and the roadmap to integrate Salesforce with Slack, their newly acquired collaboration solution. 

Salesforce co-founder and CTO Parker Harris hosted the much-anticipated “True to the Core” session on the first day. He started it ten years ago when many Dreamforce attendees mobbed him, frustrated at the lack of attention to their product feedback. “We weren’t listening,” he said. 

True to the Core reminds me of a discovery session, where senior executives learn about issues from those who use their solutions day-to-day. In this case, the first question caught Parker by surprise. A frustrated admin requested Flow development support, and admin support directed him to a development support team who would not help him. Fortunately, Parker brought along a couple of allies: Bret Taylor, President and Chief Operations Officer, and David Schmaier, the new Chief Product Officer, to help with this department-spanning issue. They committed to resolving it with their head of customer service. Cases like this make True to the Core so popular.

Another interesting question came up about Lightning page performance vs. Salesforce Classic. While Parker found this question a bit surprising, he asked a good business analysis question:  what makes some pages load so slowly? He proposed measuring the page load performance to pinpoint the problem. 

Spitting Out the Champagne

True to the Core also included the executives sharing a story where they “drank their own champagne,” installing and configuring a Salesforce org, like business analysts validating a solution. Unfortunately, they found their champagne’s taste rather disappointing, encountering much more friction in the process than expected. In that context, David announced a “Salesforce Easy” initiative to make Salesforce easier to set up and implement. 

Convergence Toward Simplicity

While the executives didn’t elaborate on Salesforce Easy, they brought some clarity to the myriad of no-code tools that have accumulated on Salesforce. They have committed to Flow Builder, intending to retire Workflow Rules and Process Builder in a year or two. The product manager hinted at migration tools to convert Workflow Rules and Processes to Flow. Since thousands of Workflow Rules and Processes run businesses in 2021, the product team should make migration to Flows as easy as possible.

David said they wanted to converge toward "one way to do things." Good idea, but he should have someone ensure that the “one way” works for customers and doesn’t take anything away without an easy alternative. A good business analyst ensures a simplified solution continues to meet customer needs.

David Schmaier also said that “Slack will augment, not replace Chatter.” I can see why he says that now, with Workflows and Process Builder already on their way out. However, if Salesforce ultimately wants one way to collaborate, they have a difficult job ahead. Replacing Chatter would be too disruptive until it has an easy enough migration path with clear benefits. I think it will take several years before that happens - like moving from Salesforce Classic to Lightning.

Slack for Business Analysis

Slack looks like a good business analysis tool, enabling stakeholder collaboration around a specific topic (channel). Like email, it keeps a record of conversations and supports a variety of media. However, some conversations demand more immediate interaction, like a call.

Zayne Turner, Senior Director of Architect Relations at Salesforce, demonstrated the best of both worlds with Slack Huddles. Participants on a huddle talk to each other like a call. They can share content, like a diagram.

The Future of Salesforce Business Analyst Success

The Salesforce Admin keynote, “The Future of Admin Success,” gave a couple of nods to business analysis. It started by Common Sense Media Admin, Gordon Lee, defining admin success. He said admins should focus 90% of their career development on interpersonal communications skills. Also, if they raise their business awareness, they can develop valuable business analysis talent for any career path. 

David Louie, Mulesoft Product Manager, called business analysis “a key skill” in the context of integrating apps with services. I got the impression that Salesforce expects business analysts to participate in no-code development using App Builder, Flow Builder, and Mulesoft. A business analyst building prototypes makes a lot of sense. It accelerates the feedback process by taking a prototype developer out of the middle.

Architects can help business analysts develop prototypes, showing them the best tools and methods to get started. At the same time, business analysts help architects understand requirements. Business analysts determine the right solution to build, and the architect ensures the development team builds it right.

Salesforce business analysts should remain aware of their skills gaps and continuously fill them. Dreamforce can help with that, especially if the Salesforce Business Analysis Certification comes through in early 2022.

Dreamforce 2021’s “True to the Core” provided business analysis wisdom, while the admin and architect keynotes acknowledged the value of the business analyst role.

You can see the “True to the Core” presentation on Salesforce+ (registration required).