Once upon a time, I was working with a new support client. I had been tasked to assess their instance and identify opportunities to resolve technical debt. In reviewing Contact object fields, I thought I had found an easy win for the deprecation list in “temp_bool”, a field that had been created five years prior.
However, I was disappointed in sharing at a support meeting. There, I learned that my developer colleague both uses this frequently in current automations, and finds the idea of writing a description silly as its use should be intuitive by its name. (Not to me!!)
Rebel Against “Common Sense”
Among other things, “temp bool” demonstrates to me how problematic it is to assume that something is intuitive or “common sense” just because they make sense to you. What you think makes sense may be a new concept to someone from another culture or who has a different neurology.
Descriptions as a First Step to Salesforce Mindfulness
There are very good reasons why there are mindfulness modules on Trailhead. In addition to personal benefits, our Salesforce environments will benefit considerably if built with mindfulness at their core.
I see writing a Description for new fields – yes, all of them! – as a simple mindfulness practice. This helps me insure that everything I’m doing has an intention and will be necessary in the long-term.
I’m not talking about writing a tome for each addition to Salesforce. Think of it as writing quick notes to your future self and your successors. Descriptions can contain:
- Quick summary of how the field is used, why info is collected
- Reference to DLRS and other field uses that are harder for admins to see
- Write if the field has a temporary use – helps clean back out later
In addition to having a better documented Salesforce instance, I have also appreciated working in these documented environments. I have gratitude to myself when I’m supporting a long-ago developed feature and finding notes telling me why things are the way they are.
What do you think?
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