We’ve all experienced it. We all loath it. You know, that feeling when:

• The edits you just spent 30 minutes on don’t save and your browser crashes
• You invent and refine a product only to research it and find that it already exists
• As you complete a data upload, you realize someone else already made the changes

Face it — we all hate duplicate work, particularly when it comes to Salesforce. If you knew that a quick phone call or a little bit of preliminary research would save you from reinventing the wheel, would you do the due diligence?

Here are four simple ways to improve Salesforce… and keep yourself from reinventing your entire ecosystem.

1. Find pre-existing ideas within your Salesforce Org

When problem solving within an Org, sometimes it is easier to find other scenarios with similar needs than to try and discover all the needs for something that already exists. 

For example, when I set up new users in an Org, I ask them for the name of their manager as well as a peer. This answers many of my questions involving permissions, role, and profile, without the new employee needing to know what their settings should be. If you are setting up an email alert, see if a template already exists that can be used or copied. When solving for stage-like requests, determine if a new custom field really needs to be added or if adding a value to an existing picklist would suffice.

While it might not seem like much, the excessive configuration in your Org could cause confusion and extra work for you and anyone else that may work on your org in the future.

2. Improve environment governance

I’ve worked in environments that were so out of sync that I could not deploy layouts and other configurations with confidence that changes weren’t being overwritten. Tackle these deployment issues sooner rather than later, or it will soak up more and more of your time. 

If you don’t have one, create a strategy for refreshing sandboxes and tracking configuration changes. Learn about the tools available for continuous integration, such as Gearset or CircleCI. (See for instance how we decreased record deployment time with GearSet.)

3. Ask! Somebody knows the trouble you’ve seen

One of my first sentences was “do by self.” Yes, ever since I was small, I always hated asking for help. One thing I’ve noticed while working at Silverline is that you have hundreds of solutions architects, specialists, and developers available in many channels dedicated to helping people like me with “interesting” problems. This is a benefit of working with a large consultancy. 

So many people are willing to spend time sharing the knowledge to get me unblocked. One thing I love about working in the Salesforce space is that it seems like I encounter new challenges every day. However, I need to remind myself that sometimes, while these issues may be new for me, they probably won’t be new for everyone. So remember, put aside the pride, and ask for help.

4. Collect Reusable Assets

Not all Salesforce partners have a way to capture apps, code, components, and processes in a repeatable fashion, but for those that do, it is a huge win for clients. Silverline’s foundry was based on the idea that we should capture solutions we make for our clients and subsequently make something that can be valuable for our many other clients. 

The library of designs fill common gaps in the platform and can really cut back on the development time for custom pieces. It’s a win for every one of our clients — and perhaps the best example of how we try to scale our solutions to improve Salesforce without reinventing the wheel.

If you’re looking for ways to improve Salesforce without starting from scratch, see how our Advisory services can help.