Technical Debt in Salesforce: How to Prevent It Like an Architect

Technical Debt in Salesforce
No, It's Not Just About Clean Code—It’s About Clean Thinking

Let’s Start with a Real Story

Two years ago, I walked into a project where every change felt like walking on Lego bricks barefoot. Add one new field → five flows broke. Update a validation rule → Apex tests cried.
We called it: “The Org of Doom.” 😅

It had 20+ active record-triggered flows, hundreds of fields on Account, and code written by 8 developers over 6 years — with no documentation.
That’s not a system — that’s technical debt in its most terrifying form.

What Is Technical Debt in Salesforce?

Think of it like this:

Every time you take a shortcut today for faster delivery, you’re borrowing against your org’s future scalability.

Just like financial debt, technical debt builds interest. The more you delay paying it off, the more painful it becomes to make changes.

Common Causes of Technical Debt in Salesforce

Let’s break it down with everyday examples you might recognize:

CauseReal-World Example
🪓 Quick FixesA validation rule added in a rush during UAT, never optimized
🔁 Duplicate LogicSame logic in Process Builder, Flow, and Apex Trigger
😵‍💫 Over-Customization20+ custom fields that nobody uses
🧪 Poor Test CoverageTest classes that just cover for coverage’s sake
🙈 No DocumentationYou found a flow named Flow_123_Test_v2_FINAL (1) and cried inside
🏷️ Bad Naming ConventionsNew_Trigger_UpdatedBySomeone — no idea what it does
🔄 Mixing Declarative + CodeA validation rule added in a rush during UAT, never optimised

How to Prevent Technical Debt Like an Architect

1. 🔍 Think in Systems, Not Features

Don’t build for a requirement. Build for a future-proof system.

Bad:

“Client wants a checkbox → I’ll add it and update flow.”

Architect Approach:

“Why is this checkbox needed? Can we solve it via a formula or report instead?”

Architects ask why before building the what.


2. 📐 Establish a Guardrail Architecture

Have rules for:

  • When to use Flow vs Apex
  • Naming conventions
  • Folder structure for Flows and Reports
  • When to use custom metadata/settings

Example:
For one client, we implemented a rule:

“No record-triggered flows allowed on Opportunity. All logic handled via Apex + platform events.”

It saved us countless hours of debugging in the long run.


3. 🧹 Do a Monthly Org Cleanup Sprint

Every month, allocate 1–2 hours to:

  • Delete inactive flows and old reports
  • Merge duplicate fields
  • Archive old dashboards
  • Review test methods with poor coverage

Call it “Tech Debt Friday” — serve chai and clean your mess together 😄


4. 📚 Document as You Go

Documentation doesn’t have to be fancy. Even a shared Google Sheet that says:

Flow NamePurposeOwnerLast Modified

…can save a new developer hours of confusion.


5. 🧪 Write Tests That Teach, Not Just Cover

Bad:

System.assert(true); // just to get 75% 😐

Good:

@isTest
static void test_WhenOpportunityClosed_CreateTask() {
// Arrange
// Act
// Assert meaningful logic
}

Your future self (or next developer) will thank you.


6. 🧠 Create a Design Review Ritual

Before any major logic goes live, review it with your team:

  • Is this scalable?
  • Can this be done declaratively?
  • Does it conflict with existing flows?

Even a 20-minute sync avoids months of debugging.

Architect Mindset Summary

HabitArchitect Thinking
🧠 Thinking beyond ticketWhat impact does this have on data model & future logic?
📂 Organizing everythingFuture devs can easily navigate
💬 Communicating clearlyStakeholders understand tradeoffs
🔄 Reusability > RedundancyUse invocable Apex, subflows, and custom labels
✂️ Less is moreSometimes removing a feature is the best fix

The best systems are not the ones with the most features. They’re the ones with the least surprises.

– Arpit vijayvergiya

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