Salesforce evolves continuously. Roadmaps that don't account for platform direction get out of sync — building features Salesforce will ship natively in 6 months.
Stay informed:
- Salesforce release notes — every release (3/year). Major features announced.
- Trailblazer Community — early visibility into emerging features.
- Dreamforce / TrailblazerDX — annual conferences with roadmap announcements.
- Salesforce Strategic Briefings — for partners; previews of platform direction.
- AppExchange ecosystem — what packages are emerging; signals where Salesforce isn't filling needs (or where it might).
Translate to roadmap:
For each Salesforce-direction trend, decide:
- Adopt early — build into Phase 1 (e.g., Lightning Web Security if launching new).
- Wait — platform feature still maturing; build interim solution and migrate.
- Skip — not relevant to this client.
- Compete — if Salesforce is moving into a space the client has custom-built, reduce custom investment.
Examples:
- Process Builder retirement — clients still on PB should plan migration to Flow.
- Aura -> LWC — new development should be LWC; older Aura migrates over time.
- DevOps Center — for clients still on Change Sets, DevOps Center is Salesforce's modern alternative.
- Agentforce / AI — clients with AI ambitions should design with platform AI capabilities in mind.
- Data Cloud — for orgs needing unified customer data, Data Cloud is the strategic direction.
Avoid:
- Building features Salesforce will ship soon — wasted investment.
- Heavily customising end-of-life features — Process Builder, Visualforce.
- Ignoring platform direction — eventually becomes technical debt.
Senior consultant move: brief clients quarterly on platform direction. Update roadmap based on shifts. Don't treat the roadmap as static.
The most valuable thing a consultant can do: tell a client "don't build that — Salesforce will ship it in 6 months. Build this instead, which they won't."
Saves customer money. Builds long-term trust. Long game.