💃 Salesforce Automation Bonanza 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerds! We’ve all been there …

We start with a noble dream: clean automation, thoughtful processes, elegent flow design.

But before long, that dream spirals into a digital spaghetti western - complete with rogue before-save Flows, shootouts between Apex classes, and a sheriff (you) who’s left trying to restore order. 🤠 

This, my fellow ChaCha, is an anti-pattern called Automation Bonanza … where well-meaning automation goes wild.

The result? A bloated, brittle org where one checkbox change triggers seven automations, a Process Builder still lurking in the shadows, and a developer crying softly into their debugger. 😱 

Let’s unpack this mess, shall we?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Salesforce Automation Bonanza

• What is "Automation Bonanza"?

• What it's a bad idea

• Common offenders

• How to avoid the bonanza

• Order restored

THE ORIGIN STORY

WHAT IS “AUTOMATION BONANZA”?

The Automation Bonanza is an architectural anti-pattern where automation logic multiplies uncontrollably. 📈 

It usually starts with small, isolated automations: a Flow here, a helper class there.

But over time, these fragments pile up, overlap, and begin stepping on each other’s toes. 💔 

The pattern typically arises from:

😱 Well-meaning admins solving quick business problems without full visibility.

🦸 Hero developers dropping Apex triggers “just for this edge case.”

🌀 Agile overdrive, where features are cranked out sprint after sprint with no unified design strategy.

❌ No governance model, leading to automation chaos by committee.

SYMPTOMS + CONSEQUENCES

WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA

Honestly … at first, the Bonanza doesn’t feel like a problem.

Stuff works! Sort of. 🤔 

But then, strange things start to happen:

👎️ Conflicting logic: One Flow updates a field, triggering another Flow that changes it back.

🧨 Governor limit blowups: That one insert quietly calls 14 invocable methods, leading to surprise limits.

🎲 Order of execution roulette: Trying to debug becomes a game of “which automation wins today?”

🦥 Slow page performance: Users start noticing lag - and they’re not shy about telling you.

❌ Test classes that fail on Fridays only: Because that’s when someone else’s scheduled Flow kicks in.

What begins as helpful automation can quickly turn into a pile of performance issues and unpredictable behavior.

FLOW + APEX PITFALLS

COMMON OFFENDERS

Behind every Automation Bonanza is a gang of usual suspects - some declarative, some programmatic, all guilty. 👩‍⚖️ 

These are the patterns, missteps, and oversights that turn your org into a spaghetti factory with no chef in charge.

🌀 Flow Overload

• Multiple Flows per object without clear boundaries

• Flows that update the same fields redundantly

• Lack of naming conventions (is ContactFlow_v1 helping anyone?)

💥 Apex Misfires

• Triggers that duplicate Flow logic or bypass Flow-created data integrity

• Utility classes with hardcoded logic that assume field values are "always" set by Flows

• Silent Apex errors that mask Flow failures, and vice versa

🤕 Field Update Chaos

• Before-save Flow + after-save Flow + Apex trigger = one field, three conflicting updates

🔁 Cyclic Nightmares

• Flow A updates a field, Flow B reacts to it, Flow A gets retriggered… and round we go

🫠 Poor Documentation & Testing

• Nobody knows why a thing was built

• Tests don’t account for automation interactions

• Deployments break because of hidden dependencies between Flows and Apex

PRACTICAL GOVERNANCE TIPS

HOW TO AVOID THE BONANZA

Avoiding Automation Bonanza isn’t about banning Flows or going full Apex monk. It’s about intentional design. 💯 

Here’s how to bring order to the wild west:

🔍 Centralized Design Reviews

• Implement an architecture board or review process for new automation.

• Require designs to consider existing automation on the object.

🧩 Naming & Layering Conventions

• Standardize Flow names ([Object]_[TriggerType]_[Purpose])

• Separate utility Flows from business logic Flows

• Organize Apex into clear Service and Handler classes with descriptive names

🔀 Harmonize Flow & Apex

• Flows should call Apex via invocable methods when logic is shared

• Avoid duplicating business logic in both Flow and Apex - pick one

🧼 Audit Regularly

• Schedule quarterly automation audits

📚 Document Everything

• Keep an internal wiki or Confluence page

• Require “why” explanations in automation descriptions - not just “what”

WRAP UP

ORDER RESTORED

In the end, Automation Bonanza isn’t caused by bad people - it’s caused by well-intentioned people working without guardrails. 🛡️ 

It’s tempting to build that quick Flow or drop in a helper Apex class “just for now.”

But every time we do that without a cohesive design strategy, we toss another log onto the automation bonfire. 🔥 

As Architects, it’s our job to step in - not as gatekeepers, but as guides.

To remind everyone that scalable automation isn’t just about getting things to work… it’s about making sure they keep working next week, next year, and during that terrifying Friday 4 p.m. deploy. 😱 

So here’s your final checklist:

✅ One Flow per trigger context per object
✅ Shared logic lives in Apex, not scattered Flows
✅ Documentation is a feature, not a chore
✅ Declarative ≠ disposable
✅ If it breaks only in prod… you're probably living in the Bonanza

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Salesforce Memes