Now, let’s take a look at this: You are about to launch a new Salesforce project on your team which is going to change the game when it comes to business operations. You have the right tools, the right aim, and the right team. As the weeks pass, things just… start to seem wrong. Features go out slowly Development/Features are delayed Bugs are crawling in It feels like the alignment of the business needs vs the product you are creating falls further and further away
Sound familiar?
This is the harsh truth that many enterprises encounter right after diving into Salesforce development without a plan or with a bag of salt partners. Salesforce is complex and Agile demands mean quick turnovers of what started as an interesting project goes perfectly wrong with missed deadlines, projects overbudgeted and everyone feeling very frustrated.
Good news: it doesn’t have to be! With a Managed Services Provider, the magic of Agile development in Salesforce can truly come to its fullest. The perfect Managed Services Provider not only rocks out the kinks on the road but helps to speed up your Salesforce implementation and deliver features on time while aligning every sprint to the business goals.
So, what is the method to ensure that you go for a valid MSP or not? And then, how do you extract all of it? In this article, we will take you through the most critical things to investigate when looking for an MSP and how this can lead you to improve your Agile development in Salesforce, which starts turning potential losses into success.
Driving Factors When Choosing an MSP for Agile Salesforce
Choosing an MSP is a big one. Selecting the right MSP can be your best friend or worst enemy when it comes to Agile Salesforce. Key factors to consider are:
1.1 Agile Methodology Experience
- Agile is much more than the buzz phrase it is. Change is core to flexibility, and it has to be regular, and quick.
- If the MSP you are using does not yet understand Agile, you will be tied to rigid timelines, over-budget projects, and then frustrated teams.
- Example: Business Logic needs to be changed fairly often on the project you are working on. If your MSP knows the sides of agile, they will separate the project into sprints where your changes are implemented in stages. You will be able to get relatively close to a working version of the system and easily incorporate new requirements immediately.
1.2 Salesforce Technology Know
- One of the things that is too big for a CRM Salesforce is massive, and it takes a little pixie dust to treat it like CRM.
- Your MSP is responsible for all Salesforce tools & technologies, and they need to know the inner workings of Apex coding to Lightning Web Components.
- If you do not have this depth of know-how, you may get hung up with the base muffling of Salesforce specifically.
- Example: in the event your process business needs a highly custom report from within Salesforce. If your MSP is well versed in the platform, then they will know how to utilize the native functionality of Salesforce boxes, without overthrowing the functionality of redirected reports.
1.3 DevOps Capabilities
- At the core of modern software development, DevOps Is the Code.
- Without a robust DevOps plan, you are heading to pure manual deployments, which means errors, delays, and versioning problems.
- Only if your MSP has the DevOps features to deploy, test, and deliver your Salesforce features faster with high reliability.
- Example: suppose a development team just hit the finish line with a new feature in Salesforce. In combination with efficient DevOps, an MSP will test this feature automatically and deploy it straight away without any downtime or other bugs. Each time you release a new feature, it is now ready for your users, without any magic.
1.4 Committed Team
- You need collaboration and quality communication to work agilely.
- No, go in your case if the MSP cannot pledge that a dedicated team is going to attend to your project.
- If you have an indecisive, sporadic team there are going to be delays and confusion, and opportunities get missed.
- Example: Consider scenarios where both a business and a tech team need to collaborate deeply on your project. Your MSP must offer a team of full-stack specialists, one that knows salesforce from first-time use to internal configuration and maintenance. This will keep the project on track as it will have fewer surprises, with continued integration.
Best Practices for Using Agile in Your MSP
Having identified the correct MSP, you now need to refine service provider best practices – how to do work with your team. Your MSP can level raise your Agile Salesforce development bar here is how;
2.1 User Stories Clearly Defined
- Most of the Agile development is all about those clear and actionable user Stories. Otherwise, this will leave your team guessing what to build and your progress will come to a halt. Your MSP should assist your team in crafting specific user stories that are finely detailed yet elastic, yet ensure they exist for the sake of the business.
- Illustration Instead of general tasks like “Dashboard Improvement”, the story to the user should be specific: “I need a Visual Force dashboard that provides real-time sales data for me as a sales rep so that I can manage my performance and change my strategies.” Specificity makes it clear what needs to be coded and where development team members should prioritize.
2.2 Consistent Sprint Planning
- Sprints are the cornerstone of Agile development and when done wrong, your Sprint Planning becomes key to ensuring everyone knows what they are at the end of executing. As your MSP they help keep sprints planning sessions organized to deliver working product as part of each sprint, something which finally delivers features for real on time.
- Example: In our example, your team is working on a Salesforce integration with your particular ERP system. The purpose of sprint planning is to make the first sprint focus on business process understanding, the second sprint data field mapping, and the third sprint testing/ deployment.
- This paradigm helps you to track your progress and adjust when the need arises.
2.3 Organized Backlog
- An Unorganized Backlog is the Achilles Heel of your Developing project disaster waiting to happen. If you carry a lot of unclear, unprioritized tasks in your backlog, the development team will waste time deciding what to work on. Your MSP will help you maintain your backlog, a prioritized list of everything you want to do as an organization.
- Example: You need a custom approval workflow in your Salesforce org. Your MSP will decompose this into suitable user stories for you and prioritize them in the order of business urgency. This means that the most important features get built first and we keep our development lifecycle on a steady track.
2.4 Sandboxing
- Sandboxes allow your developers to iterate and test new features without incurring unexpected consequences. Your MSP should also use Sandboxes for testing and development to keep your production environment from being negatively affected.
- Example: Another example the MSP may create is a sandbox to test a third-party new system integration. This is so that your users won’t get interruptions running the testing part and at the end, a tested flawless solution may go live.
2.5 Automated Testing Processes
- Manual testing is slow and prone to errors. To shorten the development cycle and develop higher-quality products, the best way for your MSP is to integrate automated testing processes that run after every code push.
- Example: Your MSP has run automated tests on the Salesforce system after a sprint, to verify that the newly incorporated feature works well around all devices. Automated testing will help to catch bugs early in a controlled environment rather than running into costly delays later.
2.6 Continuous Delivery
- In programming, the idea of using small incremental changes often multiple times a day characterizes agile development. Continuous Delivery means the new features are immediately and automatically tested, built, and deployed to your production environment by your MSP.
- Example: After each sprint, your MSP runs automated tests on the Salesforce system to make sure the new integrated feature properly works on multiple devices. This can detect bugs early on, preventing a big delay in the end.
2.7 Regular Feedback Loops
- Agile is about taking feedback and giving immediate feedback loops from stakeholders and end users. This will ensure the development process aligns with the business needs.
Example: Your sales team will be using a new Salesforce feature in each sprint and providing feedback to the MSP after using it. If they realize that a specific function is difficult to use, they can correct it for the next Sprint and ultimately meet the user expectations on the final product.
2.8 Performance Monitoring
- Your MSP should be tracking the performance of your Salesforce environment at all times so that your system is performing smoothly, even when new features and integrations are deployed. This entails measuring the time spent by users, system error rate, and satisfaction.
Example: Performance monitoring tools used by your MSP to know how fast Salesforce reports are getting generated and if there are any delays. If they see any nitty gritty, they can quickly clean this before all your end-users see it.
Partnering with an MSP for Agile Salesforce Development Pros
When you partner with the right MSP, the savings are obvious.
- Faster Time to Market: sprints mean you will have the features longer in production, so your team reaps benefits sooner.
- Less risk: automated testing + continuous delivery, allow your company to continuously improve and spot issues before major problems + downtime
- Scalability and Adaptability Because they are an agnostic MSP, they scale to support your business’ changes in requirements and size do we need the capability to evolve as well
- Efficiency: MSPs automate the processes and boost efficiency to help reduce operating costs.
- To have the right knowledge: MSPs have exhaustive knowledge of both Salesforce and Agile so that your project is followed by best practices.
Concluding Thoughts
Agile development of course is not so easy to optimize in Salesforce, at least not without the right MSP, but it doesn’t have to be a pain. From the simplest of user stories right through testing automation and CI/CD, a seasoned MSP will help you get things done and deliver things that matter few to your business.
Partner up with the right partner and soon your agile journey will blossom into a phenomenal success that accelerates your business.