💃 It Depends... 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerds! Is “It depends” in your top-3 most used responses?

Or you’ve been on the receiving end of “it depends” from a smirking 😏 or sweating 🥵 consultant?

Here’s the thing-

It’s often the correct answer.

Sure, being on the receiving end of an “it depends” is annoying, but it’s not wrong 🤷🏻.

Today, we dive into your favorite response, and when you’re done reading, you’ll have an informed justification for using it 🙂.

WHAT IS IT?

What Is “It Depends”?

San Diego 🏖️ or NYC 🌃?

🗣️ It depends…do you like chillin’ on the beach or amazing food on every corner?

Fork 🍴 or spoon 🥄?

🗣️ It depends…do you need to scoop or poke?

Flow or Apex?

🗣️ It depends…how complex is the problem you have, do you have the resources to support an Apex solution, and what do we need to consider upstream and downstream?

IT DEPENDS is actually the right answer 😃!!

Life is not straightforward. And being a Salesforce professional is a microcosm of all that is not straightforward in life 🙂.

And maybe your audience sees your “it depends” response as-

🦥 Lazy - why can’t you just spell it out?!

🥴 Incompetent - do you not know?!

🫠 Passive aggressive - if it’s a no, just tell me no. If it costs an arm and a leg, just say so!!

It’s true - “it depends” has the reputation of being a sleazy consultant response.

Which is ironic because undoubtedly its origins are specifically to achieve high integrity.

Here’s what we mean-

Them: “Can you integrate our EDI system with Salesforce to update shipping statuses to customers?”

You: “It depends 🤔….”

Them: “🙄 Depends on what?”

You: *long pause, deep breath 😮‍💨

You: “It depends on <insert 27 minute explanation and follow up questions> 🙂”

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

“It Depends” Manages Risk

If you’re a Salesforce consultant billing $200/hr, you are expected to setup your clients for success.

❌ Lack of understanding will set them up to fail.

❌ Lack of context will set them up to fail.

❌ Oversimplifying will set them up to fail.

You need to be in lockstep with your client.

Hold on, that doesn’t mean they have to know all the technical Salesforce detail.

Or that you need to understand the finest nuance of their industry.

Here’s what it means: You and your client are aligned on-

✅ The complexity, the business impacts, and where the lift will be heavy - time, money, and/or resources.

✅ The current state, desired state, and gap analysis.

✅ The input and the desired output.

HOW DO YOU GET IT?

Here’s the best part…

How do you get “it depends”? Here’s the best part -

You already got it. Just by asking it, with the intent to clarify for your stakeholder AND for yourself, and to align you all, you are nudging your project in the right direction.

👍 You are slowing down what is going too fast.

👍 You are considering complexity with your stakeholder.

👍 You are aligning with your stakeholder.

But this is not easy to do 😳. You need to exercise patience.

And you know who needs to exercise even more patience? Your client, who is paying $200/hr and you’re trying to slow them down!

At minimum, you will need-

🫴 ALL of the BA skillz

🫴 To know your audience

🫴 Well-managed Imposter Syndrome, so that you have the mindset and confidence to guide your stakeholder and ask good questions.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Takeaway

So there you have it - “It Depends” is not only a valid answer, it’s often the right answer. The best answer. 🙂

Your stakeholders want easy, but when it’s hard, you can’t solve it easily 💯. And you’re not gonna set yourself up to fail by saying it’s easy 😅.

Complex problems require many considerations - what if the user is out of office, what if you add a required field, what do you want to happen if the integration fails? That’s why it depends!

To maintain your stakeholders’ comfiness, set them up for success by keeping it simple (not easy).

That means more work for you - distilling the problem down to what your audience can understand. Giving them the ability to make good decisions.

However, some of what you vaporized ♨️ during the distillation process will need to be circled-back on 🔄.

But your first priority is getting the stakeholder to understand, before peppering them with more questions. This requires so much patience and planning! How much?

It depends 😘.

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Your Salesforce Memes