[Ep 024] Salesforce at Scale: Tackling Technical Debt Before It Tackles You

Technical debt in Salesforce rarely feels urgent—until it is. In the first episode of the Salesforce at Scale series, host Greg Banks is joined by Allie Nelson and Al Huerta (Cirrius Solutions) to break down what technical debt looks like in real orgs, why it piles up, and how it quietly slows performance, blocks new features, and inflates the cost of future change. They share practical examples and discuss the most common blockers preventing companies from doing what MUST be done. They offer concrete starting steps—like analyzing report usage, taking an automation inventory, and using documentation and DevOps tools to regain control.What you’ll learn (key takeaways)Technical debt is anything you build that becomes a drag later—often invisible until it hits limits or breaks change efforts.Common culprits: unused flows/fields/layouts/apps, hard-coded processes tied to specific users, and formula fields that push org limits.The “real” cost shows up during upgrades—new clouds, re-architecture, or leadership initiatives can balloon to 2–3× expected cost when debt must be unwound first.Debt blocks innovation: over-customization can prevent adoption of newly released Salesforce capabilities.Prevention = governance + expectation management: define requirements, triage requests, and design intentionally before building.Call to Action:Start small and measurable: report on report usage; identify low/zero-use assets; then expand into fields and automations.Want More: Watch: YoutubeListen: Apple Podcasts \ SpotifyRecommended LinksAllie Nelson on LinkedInAl Huerta on LinkedInGreg Banks on LinkedIn Cirrius BlogCirrius SolutionsJason Fowler MusicFor questions or feedback, please contact us at [email protected]