For years, I focused on building solutions. Now I focus on defining the right problems—and sometimes, that means saying no.

Not all requests belong in Salesforce. Not all automations need to exist. The mark of an architect isn’t how much they build—it’s how strategically they build.

When people think of External Objects, they think data sync. But I’ve started using them to improve the user experience in Salesforce.

Examples:

• Viewing external inventory or availability directly from a record page

• Displaying past transaction history from a billing system

• Creating read-only snapshots of data that doesn’t need to live inside the org

Permission Set Groups are one of the cleanest admin upgrades Salesforce has introduced—and I now use them to enforce structure and clarity across our org.

Instead of assigning a dozen permission sets individually, I:

• Create logical groups like “Core Consultant Access” or “Service Manager Tools”

• Add or remove permission sets centrally

• Apply muting permissions when necessary (yes, you can subtract access too)