5 things I wish I knew before starting as a Salesforce Project Manager

Today, we speak with Wei Wang, a Salesforce Project Manager at EMPAUA about 5 things she wishes she knew during her journey to become a Salesforce Project Manager. Wei has over 8+ years of experience in general project management and has been training herself regularly in Salesforce since 2018.

1. Have a "big picture mindset"

It's easy to understand the request in front of you, but as a salesforce project manager, if you could figure out the strategy behind a single request, it would help you to understand the request better and control the potential change request easier.

2. Salesforce should be your second language

A good project manager should have an intimate relationship with Salesforce.

Although there are consultants and developers to handle most technical solutions, salesforce project managers should also understand the overall architecture of Salesforce — knowing what is possible, how objects interact with each other, the implications of removing fields, and how even making small changes can affect a bigger process.

It helps with both initial solution design and estimation, and also supports communication between Project Manager and Consultant/Developer smoother.

3. Pay attention to Salesforce news

No matter whether the news is a new release or a new feature, it’s always useful to pay attention to the news Salesforce announces. On one side, for regularly updating your Salesforce knowledge and being able to recommend the best solution regarding the client’s requests, on another hand, to avoid and monitor the potential risk which is caused by a new release.

4. Observe complex Salesforce projects

As a salesforce project manager, besides your own projects, it would be a good idea to keep an eye on other projects, especially complex projects. 

For example, shadowing in meetings or organising regular knowledge-sharing sessions. It will enrich your ideas for potential requests, and enable you to lead projects at this scale and scope one day. When observing, question the choices that Senior Project Managers made to understand why they took specific actions in certain scenarios; this will help you develop your own independent thinking.

5. Solid understanding of your team

It’s important to know your team members or company resources for any project manager, especially for Salesforce Project Manager. You need to know what you can expect from these key team members, and what you should delegate to other specialists. 

You need to understand the differences between Functional Salesforce Consultants and Technical Salesforce Consultants, or where Salesforce Architects fit into the picture, and which requirements should be assigned to which Consultant/Developer.

If you have any questions regards to starting a career in Salesforce, please feel to reach out to us on Linkedin.

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