The Art of Business Analysis
Jul 9th, 2022
Posted on Sep 14, 2021 Tools & Tips
“Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky
We conclude our Ultimate Salesforce Delivery Machine series with a look at an important topic: communicating change effectively. If you’ve missed our previous articles, we recommend reading Part 1, Part 2, Part 3(a), Part 3(b) and Part 3(c).
Many organizations struggle to maintain a release strategy – not due to a lack of technical skill or planning – but because they overlook the importance of communicating concisely.
The risk of neglecting a communication strategy is that it can result in a lack of adoption, improper use of the system, poor team performance and an inaccurate depiction to upper management about the importance of the Salesforce team.
This is why establishing a communication strategy is so important to the release process.
A communication strategy outlines the who, what, when and how around communication efforts related to your releases.
Who: Who is the target audience of your message? Business stakeholders, users, executive management, etc. Depending on who the audience is, the message may change. Identify the ‘who’ for your release communication. Keep in mind that who may change from release to release.
What: What is the content being delivered? If it’s content about an upcoming release, end users might want to see instructional information on how to interact with the new changes. If it is management, they may want to know how the enhancement helps increase productivity.
When: When is the communication going out and how often? Again, depending on the who, the when may be different. Typically, communications around changes are at least scheduled:
How: How are we delivering the message? What is the medium or tool we are using to communicate? Email, webinar, In-person training, blogs?
Here is a good resource from Trailhead that outlines a high-level communication plan.
Timing |
Key Topics |
Pre-Launch |
|
Launch |
|
Post-Launch |
|
The best way to approach the communication strategy is to define the who, or groups of who, and then break out and define the what, when and how.
This exercise will foster a keen understanding of the different audiences at play within your Salesforce environment and their needs relating to how they interact with Salesforce.
Here is an example of how that might look laid out in a table:
Who |
What |
When |
How |
End Users |
Release Notes and Training FAQ |
Before Release |
Wiki, Email |
Business Stakeholders |
Release Notes and Business Benefits, Vision |
Before Release |
Email, Power Point Presentation |
End Users |
Instructions, Training and FAQ, Support information |
During Release |
Email, Wiki |
Project Team |
Risk Registry, Support Contact List |
During Release |
Shared File repository, Email |
End Users |
Satisfaction Surveys, Tips/Tricks, Updates |
After Release |
Email, Blog |
Business Stakeholders |
Adoption Metrics, Satisfaction Survey Results |
After Release |
Email, Salesforce Reports |
You’ll notice that for each group (who) there is a different need for what, when, and how. The project team needs to be communicated with during the release to be aware of outstanding risks while the Business Stakeholders may benefit from more high-level documentation, such as a list of release business benefits.
Once this is diagrammed, it’s time to execute the plan. Create the necessary content, align with the rest of the release team, and get something on the calendar!
As always, happy releasing!
Author: Grant Ongstad, Senior Salesforce Consultant
Part 3(a): The Software Development Lifecycle
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